Conrad and Lady Black: Dancing on the Edge in 2012, the case was described as a "$2.5-million suit" and Bower said, "How can a convicted fraudster find a jury who will say that his reputation has been damaged by a book that says he's a fraudster?" A passing reference in the book to the British businessman, pornographer, and publisher Richard Desmond led to Desmond unsuccessfully suing Bower for libel in 2009. Desmond argued that the description in the book that he was "ground into the dust" when he had published an apology after Black had threatened to sue for libel had weakened his reputation. Notes References Conrad and
Libel (admiralty law) the officer to attach it, which is considered sufficient notice to the owners. The libel must be verified by the libellant, as the complainant is called, or the complainant's agent if the complainant is without the jurisdiction. The term comes from the old French "libel", "libelle", "libeau", corresponding to , from , diminutive of , book, inner bark of a tree. The name was borrowed from the Roman law where a pleading known as the "libellus conventionis" was employed to commence an action. The word libel continued to designate the first pleading in an action under the civil law. It