Becks’ $25m lawsuit over ‘cheating claims’ thrown out

LONDON - David Beckham has lost his bid to sue a magazine, which claimed the soccer ace cheated on his wife with a hooker.

An American court has thrown out his 15.5-million-pound libel claim.

Last year, ‘In Touch’ published an article claiming Beckham paid a 2,000 pounds-a-night hooker, Irma Nici, and a “mystery brunette” for sex at New York’s Le Parker Meridien Hotel in August 2007.

Beckham’s plans to sue were thwarted as, under U.S. law, he would have prove that the publisher acted “with malice”.

His lawyers failed to do so - and couldn’t argue that Nici wasn’t allowed the right to ‘free speech”, a U.S. constitutional right.

The 35-year-old footballer had hoped to prove the prostitute was lying in the courts after she alleged they had a fling. But Judge Manuel Real threw out his action in a court in Los Angeles this week.

In his summary, the judge said Beckham was in the public eye and there was a public interest in his personal life - and that Nici’s constitutional right was to say what she wanted.

“Bauer do not dispute for purposes of this motion that their story is false,” the Daily Mail quoted Beckham’s spokesman as saying.

“They have not provided one shred of evidence to support the claim this story is true. David Beckham’s clear evidence proved that this is without foundation.

“We have already won a court ruling in Germany and are awaiting damages.

“Unfortunately, the US legal system requires us to show that the magazine acted maliciously.

“Any knowledgeable person knows this story not to be true, and we will continue to fight this in court and the decision will be appealed,” the spokesman added. (ANI)