Seth Rich News > Parents Case Against FOX News Thrown Out Judge George B. Daniels of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York wrote in his opinion that he had granted Fox News' motion to dismiss the lawsuit over the plaintiffs' "failure to state a claim." More specifically, Daniels said that "each of the Plaintiffs' claims fail to adequately allege essential elements of the causes of action asserted." Joel and Mary Rich, who filed their lawsuit in March, had sought compensation for "mental anguish and emotional distress" caused by the publication of a baseless conspiracy theory regarding the 2016 unsolved murder of their son. The lawsuit said that Malia Zimmerman, the Fox News reporter named in the lawsuit, worked with Ed Butowsky, the Texas businessman, to develop a "sham" story about Rich's death that Fox News published online in May 2017 and referenced on-air multiple times.  Zimmerman's story said Rod Wheeler, a private investigator and Fox News contributor hired by Butowsky to look into Rich's death, had learned that Wikileaks had been in contact with Rich prior to his death. The story suggested without real evidence that Rich had leaked a trove of DNC emails to Wikileaks and further suggested that his death, which police suspect was a botched robbery, was retribution for the supposed leak.