ScienceInsider

by Michael Balter

Last week, attorneys for biologist and author Jared Diamond and Advance Publication Inc., publisher of The New Yorker, filed papers in New York state court in response to a lawsuit filed against them last April by two tribesmen from Papua New Guinea. The plaintiffs, Daniel Wemp and Isum Mandingo, claimed that Diamond and The New Yorker had defamed then in an article Diamond wrote for the magazine in April 2008, entitled "Vengence is Ours," about a tribal war that allegedly took place some years earlier

On Friday the plaintiffs filed an "Amended Complaint" (pdf) in court which gives the details of their accusations. The 30-page document summarizing the charges against Diamond and The New Yorker, which allegedly "falsely accus[ed] plaintiffs of criminal behavior, including complicity in multiple murders and in the case of Wemp promoting prostitution and/or rape."

The document goes on to quote extensively from The New Yorker article, responding to each passage with a section entitled "The truth." For example, in response to Diamonds description of Daniel Wemp as the main organizer of the revenge war, the document states:

Daniel Wemp was not a participant in this war at all. At the time of the fighting, Wemp was working some 200 miles away at the coast, in a city called Madang. He only learned of the fighting after it was over.

The defendants are now demanding a total of at least $45 million in damages for the injuries they have allegedly suffered to their reputation. No trial date has been set.

Ed. Note: This story, which was removed on 19 October due to an editorial miscommunication, is being republished in its original form.