E! Online News said in a report that Chantel Jeffries has sued the New York Daily News for defamation. The 21 year-old model came into public consciousness when she was inside Justin Bieber's car when he allegedly participated in a drag race using his rented Lamborghini in Miami Beach, Florida on January 23. Although she was not charged with anything when Bieber was arrested, E! Online said Jeffries earned criticism from the media, with most of them labeling her as a bad girl in the process.
Jeffries' attorney, Morgan & Morgan PA's Andrew Parker Felix told the entertainment news site exclusively that his client was upset about New York Daily News' published false statements about her.
"(My client) has suffered and continues to suffer, humiliation, embarrassment, emotional pain, suffering, inconvenience, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, damage to her reputation and other non-pecuniary losses for which compensatory damages should be awarded," Felix told E! Online News.
Felix said that the site either failed to exercise reasonable care in verifying whether the statements from the news site's sources had truth or were false or that the news site had the intention to destroy Jeffries. The statements that Jeffries reportedly found troubling were of here being a criminal mastermind and that she had been arrested five times prior to Bieber's arrest in January.
The lawsuit, Felix added, was Jeffries' way to legally seek action to protect and defend her reputation and is requesting permanent relief against the news site. It was evident in Felix's statements that Jeffries is intending to have a jury to look into the allegations and determine unspecified damages for Jeffries.
When E! Online asked the New York Daily News for comment regarding Jeffries' lawsuit, the news site had failed to respond immediately to the entertainment news site's request for comment.
