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"The 2nd Circuit upheld the verdict and the court said that the key question wasn't whether his name was used, it was whether people who mattered could identify him. And they could. Hope walked away with more than $50,000 in damages. And the case became a landmark because it established that so called blind items can be defamatory if readers can connect the dots. So for gossip writers, vague hints weren't a shield. If your audience could figure it out, you were on the hook."
