JUDGE DISMISSES MAGIC LAWSUIT

According to the Detroit Free Press, Pick a card, any card -- just not the card trick "Any Card at Any Number." That, essentially, was Magic Magazine writer Brad Henderson's advice, and it led Livonia magician Bill Nagler to sue in U.S. District Court in Detroit for "defamation and product disparagement" of his card trick, sold online for $99. Nagler said Henderson's article decreased sales, prompting Nagler to seek $100,000 in damages. But Nagler's suit did a disappearing act Wednesday when Judge Bernard Friedman dismissed the case. He ruled that the review was Henderson's opinion, not defamation, and was thus protected by the Constitution.