Tom Scholz, co-founder of the band Boston, records in 2002 at a studio in Waltham, Mass.BOSTON – A defamation lawsuit filed by the founder of the rock group Boston against the ex-wife of the band’s late lead singer was reinstated Tuesday by the Massachusetts Appeals Court.
The lawsuit was filed by Tom Scholz, who founded the band in the 1970s with lead singer Brad Delp.
Delp committed suicide in 2007, and Scholz claimed that remarks Delp’s ex-wife Micki Delp made to the Boston Herald could be construed as blaming Scholz for his death.
A Superior Court judge found that the article was susceptible to a defamatory connotation, but he attributed that to the writers rather than Micki Delp’s remarks. In its ruling, the Appeals Court disagreed, finding that Scholz has presented “sufficient evidence to demonstrate a genuine issue of material fact whether Micki is responsible for the defamatory connotation” of the article.
In March, a different judge threw out Scholz’s separate defamation lawsuit against the Herald.