Tom Cruise Lawsuit: Magazine Publisher Denies Defamation Over Suri ‘Abandonment’ Claims

Tom Cruise’s lawsuit against the publisher of the magazines Life Style and In Touch Weekly met with a defiant response on Tuesday.

E! News obtained Bauer Publishing Co.’s response to the Tom Cruise lawsuit, which the Top Gun and Mission: Impossible star launched in October.

Defending itself against the charge of defamation, Bauer’s response argued that the stories in the magazines, which claimed Cruise had “abandoned” six-year-old daughter Suri, contained reporting that was “substantially true” and added that the magazines “do not assert verifiably false facts, and/or constitute rhetorical hyperbole or subjective statements of opinion.”

The publishing giant argued that it was not liable for damages because “some or all of the allegedly defamatory statements complained of by plaintiff are true or substantially true.” Bauer’s statement adds that Cruise “cannot prove that he has suffered any compensable damage as a result of any actionable statement published by the Bauer Defendants.”

Responding to Bauer’s statement, Cruise’s lawyer Bert Fields told E!:

“The Bauer magazines said that Tom ‘abandoned’ his child. That is unequivocally false, malicious and libelous.”

Since his extremely public split from Katie Holmes, the 50-year-old actor has had little chance to spend time with Suri. Indeed, father and daughter were apart for three whole months before Cruise got to see his daughter for a Thanksgiving meal in late-November.

Holmes has been granted custody of the couple’s only child after their quick divorce in August, but Cruise has been in regular contact with Suri since then, according to Fields.

The Hollywood actor will have custody of Suri for Christmas, and fresh rumors suggest he’s planning to spoil his daughter rotten with a $US13.5 million house of her own.

What do you make of the Tom Cruise lawsuit? In your view, did the magazines take things too far in their accusations against Cruise?