Judge lets Herald libel judgment stand

A judge yesterday refused to throw out a $2 million libel judgment against the Boston Herald, rejecting a request that the verdict be set aside because of alleged misconduct by Superior Court Judge Ernest B. Murphy after he won a suit against the newspaper.

In a two-pronged victory for Murphy, Boston Municipal Court Chief Justice Charles R. Johnson also left open the possibility that he would freeze the Herald's assets unless the paper can prove that its insurance company will pay the award, if it is upheld on appeal.

Murphy, who was working in Worcester when Johnson ruled from the bench, said in a telephone interview he was ''absolutely delighted" and felt vindicated.

But Bruce W. Sanford, a Herald lawyer, was unfazed. He said Johnson simply concluded that it made more sense for the state Appeals Court to consider Murphy's alleged misconduct when the newspaper appeals the verdict.

Yesterday's ruling came a month after the Herald's lawyers held an extraordinary news conference during which they released copies of two handwritten letters from Murphy to the tabloid's publisher, Patrick J. Purcell. Murphy penned the letters -- whose confrontational tone raised eyebrows in Boston's legal community -- after he won his suit Feb. 18 last year.

In the letters, one of which Murphy wrote on official court stationery, he demanded that Purcell pay him $3.2 million to end the lawsuit. Murphy wrote that the Herald stood ''zero chance" of success on appeal and warned Purcell not to show the letters to anyone except lawyers for the newspaper's insurance company.

The Herald's lawyers called the letters a ''stark and sad attempt to bully the Herald" and asked Johnson to set aside the award.

But Johnson agreed with Murphy that the letters sent after the verdict had no bearing on the trial itself.

Johnson said he would delay ruling on Murphy's request to freeze the Herald's assets because of what Murphy described as the paper's troubled finances.

Murphy's lawyer, Howard M. Cooper, has questioned whether the newspaper's insurance company, Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd. of Bermuda, had adequately insured the Herald against the damage award.

Johnson yesterday asked the insurer to file documents within 48 hours promising to pay the award if it stands.

Murphy's bruising battle with the Herald stems from stories in 2002 that asserted he made inflammatory and insensitive remarks about two crime victims.

Jonathan Saltzman can be reached at jsaltzman@globe.com