Oprah Settles Defamation Suit

"In 1998, Oprah was sued by some Texas cattle ranchers due to a segment on her show about mad cow disease. In that case, she did go to trial and was acquitted[...]"

Acquitted? I didn't realize the Texas case was a criminal proceeding.

"Settlement" doesn't mean "paid that person off, instead of possibly losing to them in court."

It simply means that whatever was negotiated behind closed doors, the potential plaintiff chose to drop the lawsuit.

This could have been because Oprah's attorney sent a letter to the offended person and said, "Look, my client is the richest, most powerful woman in the world, with a team of 30 high powered attorneys. If you take this to court, we will counter-sue, appeal, post-pone, delay and stall this until you run out of money.." or, Oprah simply said "I'm sorry I offended you, here's a $10,000 to build a new library in your school"..

It doesn't mean or imply guilt. Just that both parties agreed for whatever reason that it wasn't worth going to court over. Period.

The suit was filed in U.S. federal court in Pennsylvania, and that's where the trial was scheduled to take place in Philadelphia. South African courts were not involved, and Oprah would not have been going to South Africa for the trial.

The settlement makes me think that Oprah didn't think before she talked. I am inclined to believe that her accusations were untrue. I don't care how much money you have, you should not try to place blame on someone else to take the heat off you! Ophrah was remiss in her duty to make sure these children were safe!