Judge rules against HTV in defamation case

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A Jefferson Parish judge’s ruling says HTV owner Martin Folse “championed a smear campaign” against a local convenience store and a clerk who worked there, using both his Facebook account and a segment of his “Bayou Time” television segment to do so.


The decision, issued Wednesday by 24th Judicial District Judge Nancy Miller, means attorneys for owners of the Roadrunner store at La. Highway 311 and St. Charles Street may proceed with a defamation lawsuit they filed against Folse Communications, which operates HTV.

(To read that decision in its entirety, click here)

The legal action arises from a Nov 10 airing of Folse’s news and public affairs program during which he related details of a dispute between Roadrunner clerk Sagar Simkhada and Houma neurosurgeon Phillip McAllister, over which type of chewing tobacco McAllister had ordered.


Folse told viewers that Simkhada – whom he did not refer to by name – had made vulgar references about U.S. veterans.

Folse coupled that discussion with information about local convenience stores owned by Middle Eastern immigrants being involved in synthetic marijuana sales and using their money to fund terrorism abroad, urging his viewers to patronize stores that are owned by “Americans.”

As noted by Miller in her decision, Simkhada is a native of Nepal and the store is owned by a Vietnamese-American. On the show Folse reported that he was a “Middle Eastern male.”


Nepal is a Himalayan nation in southern Asia. Simkhada told The Times that he and his family are Buddhists.

The broadcast and a protest by veterans at the location the next day, attorneys for the Road Runner store owners say, damaged the store’s reputation and resulted in loss of business as well as value to the business overall.

Folse’s attorney, Mary Ellen Roy, argued in court papers and in a personal appearance before Miller last month that the suit brought by the store owners should be dismissed because Folse’s words were spoken in a context of free expression, based on a topic of public concern, thus enjoying protection.


Attorney Paul Carriere, representing the store, had argued that the broadcast took a private conversation between Simkhada and McAllister and launched it into the public sphere.

Wednesday’s decision says that Folse “conflated” or mixed together his words about convenience stores selling illegal substances and funding terrorism with the tale of Simkhada and McAllister.

Folse’s argument for dismissal of the suit was dependent, Miller wrote, on a “strained parsing of the defamatory statements into isolated categories, and even individual sentences, in such a way as to make them seem unrelated to each other.”


“Breaking the statements into tiny isolated parts robs them of their meaning,” the decision states. “They were stated in a single breath and must be analyzed as such.”

Folse’s statements, Miller wrote, were presented as fact rather than opinion.

He was “unable to present any admissible evidence that Mr. Simkhada or the Road Runner convenience store engaged in, or were ever cited for the sale of synthetic marijuana, or that they were in any way connected to terrorism.”


Folse did supply a transcript of the show, which was placed in evidence.

Miller did uphold Folse’s attorneys’ objection to allegations of interfering with business relations and violation of Louisiana’s unfair trade practice law, suggesting that arguments in the case did not match the level required to uphold those.

Roy said she could not comment on the ruling until she has a chance to consult with Folse, and so has not indicated if he will appeal the decision.


Carriere was sent a request for comment but as of early Thursday morning had not responded.

HTV owner Martin Folse leaves the 24th Judicial District courthouse in Gretna.

JAMES LOISELLE | THE TIMES