The Region - News from Oct. 16, 1985

A federal judge in San Diego has dismissed a libel suit by former U.S. Rep. Lionel Van Deerlin against columnist Jack Anderson for reporting that Van Deerlin was suspected of buying cocaine on Capitol Hill. Senior U.S. District Judge Leland C. Nielsen said in a letter mailed to the attorneys in the case that there was no malice in Anderson’s April 27, 1983, column that said Van Deerlin, 71, was one of 15 lawmakers suspected of buying cocaine. Anderson testified that the column was based on a memo sent to Rep. Robert Dornan (R-Garden Grove) by a Washington police detective. The memo indicated that as many as nine congressmen were suspected of buying drugs and that Van Deerlin was one of them. Van Deerlin, who lost his bid for reelection in 1980, was out of office when the column was published.