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Crain's Must Face Chicago

Business Owner's Defama!on Suit
By Lauraann Wood ·       

Law360 (March 10, 2023, 7:30 PM EST) -- An

Illinois state judge on Friday refused to let Crain's
Communica"ons completely escape a business
owner's defama"on suit challenging a 2016
profile that he claimed made him out to be a
lousy entrepreneur and possible criminal.

Plain"ff Philip Tadros and his company Doejo LLC

have pled enough in their suit to challenge seven
of the 15 allegedly per se defamatory statements
targeted in their refiled 2021 complaint, Cook
County Judge Sco% McKenna said in his order.

The dispute stems from a "special report" Crain's

Chicago Business published that allegedly cast
Tadros and his business prac"ces in a bad light,
despite the piece ini"ally ge#ng characterized as
a profile showcasing Chicago-based business
owners, their companies and their backgrounds.

An a%orney for Tadros told Law360 in an email

Friday that Judge McKenna was right to reject
Crain's a%empt to fully dismiss the defama"on
claims.

"My client looks forward to proving that Crain's

false ar"cle ruined his reputa"on, destroyed his
business and cost him millions of dollars in
damages," said Robert Shelist of the Law Offices
of Robert J. Shelist PC. "Crain's needs to be held
accountable for its egregious conduct here."

Representa"ves for Crain's didn't immediately

respond Friday to a request for comment.

Tadros can pursue claims over ar"cle statements

sugges"ng that he had mismanaged his
businesses, made ques"onable wire transfers and
failed to file necessary regulatory reports because
they could lead readers to think Tadros showed
poor performance or lacked integrity, or could
otherwise "implicitly impute criminal conduct by
the plain"ffs," the judge said.

Tadros can also challenge part of the ar"cle

indica"ng that sources stated he had a "grandiose
self-image and fell woefully short in his ability to
run a business" for similar reasons, the judge said.
And a statement in the piece indica"ng that
Tadros has "lived large" while his businesses
underperformed is ac"onable because it
prejudiced him in his profession and as the sole
shareholder of Doejo, Judge McKenna said.

"When given their natural and obvious meaning

in the context of the ar"cle, there is no
construc"on of any of these statements which
would be innocently interpreted or reasonably
interpreted as referring to somebody other than
the plain"ffs," he said.

But several statements Tadros targeted in his suit

don't qualify under any recognized category for
defama"on per se, Judge McKenna said. For
instance, two statements Tadros highlighted,
which reference him making enemies, are a
comment on neither Tadros' integrity nor his
ability, the judge said. They could also both "be
innocently interpreted to indicate that Tadros
made 'enemies' simply because of his
entrepreneurial endeavors."

Similarly, a statement in the ar"cle indica"ng that

investors le' one of Tadros' companies out of
concern over how he was running it could just
mean they le' because they disagreed with his
business decisions.

Judge McKenna also nixed a photo that was

published with the ar"cle from the allegedly
defamatory statements in Tadros' suit. The photo
was taken years earlier for a different Crain's
ar"cle but edited to include burnt paper and
coffee ring stain marks while depic"ng Tadros
wearing dark "nted glasses in a darkly lit room to
fit the "salacious" tone and nature of the profile,
according to his lawsuit. However, the photo
"could reasonably be construed to simply show
Tadros with a coffee shop in the background," the
judge said.

Tadros claims Crain's published its purported

profile using only sources that fit its preconceived
narra"ve intending to "smear and do a hit-job" on
him. Crain's should have known that its sources
were neither reliable nor accurate, and its failure
to fully inves"gate before publishing the piece
cost Tadros business rela"onships, investors and
contracts with major en""es including Hilton
Hotels, DePaul University, University of Chicago
and Lurie Children's Hospital, according to his
complaint.

Tadros is asking the court to award him

compensatory and puni"ve damages over his
alleged harms from the published piece, as well
as a court order that Crain's take down the
allegedly defamatory piece.

Tadros is represented by Robert Shelist of the

Law Offices of Robert J. Shelist PC and John
O'Toole of O'Toole Law Firm LLC.

Crain's is represented by Steven Mandell of

Mandell Menkes LLC

The case is Philip Tadros et al. v. Crain's

Communica"ons Inc., case number 2021-L-
002354, in the Circuit Court of Cook County,
Illinois, Law Division.

--Edi"ng by Rich Mills.

For a reprint of this ar!cle, please contact reprints@law360.com.

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