Appeals Court Tosses Desley Brooks’ Suit Against Chip Johnson

A state appeals court has thrown out a libel suit filed by Oakland City Councilwoman Desley Brooks against San Francisco Chronicle columnist Chip Johnson. The three-judge panel unanimously upheld a lower court decision that also went against Brooks. In an unpublished opinion, the appellate court agreed with the lower court that it didn’t matter whether Johnson wrote false things about Brooks — as long as his article, taken as a whole, was “substantially true.”