OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Supreme Court has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by a group of tanning salon owners, who had claimed the Nebraska Cancer Coalition had defamed them and hurt their businesses with an anti-indoor tanning message.
The business owners, who operated some 30 tanning salons in Omaha and Lincoln, sued in 2015 after the coalition launched its "The Bed is Dead" campaign, which includes a website and ads that link tanning bed use to skin cancer. The lawsuit says the campaign not only defamed the salons, but violated a state deceptive trade practices law.
The high court said in its decision Friday that a Douglas County District Court judge did not err in dismissing the lawsuit, noting that a defamation claim requires "more than general, industry-wide allegations."