TV & VIDEO - March 12, 1987

Lawyers for Houston-area house painter Terry G. Rouse said they plan to refile a $30-million libel and slander suit against TV news personality Geraldo Rivera and the Harris County, Tex., sheriff after Rouse goes to trial on a drug charge. Rouse charges that Rivera libeled her in the December “American Vice: The Doping of a Nation” TV special that showed her being arrested during an on-air drug raid. Houston lawyer Larry Simon said Wednesday that Rouse--currently in jail on a separate drug charge--was unable to comply with discovery requests made by attorneys representing Sheriff Johnny Klevenhagen and therefore sought the dismissal without prejudice, leaving the way clear for her to refile the suit. An earlier report erroneously said the suit was dismissed on a defense request.