South Jersey power broker and former Inquirer co-owner George E. Norcross III on Thursday filed a $100 million defamation and conspiracy lawsuit against the newspaper and one of its editors.
Norcross was among six individuals indicted in 2024 by New Jersey state prosecutors in a racketeering case regarding economic development tax breaks for projects connected to Norcross in Camden. The high-profile case, which was extensively covered by The Inquirer and other outlets, was subsequently thrown out by a judge.
Norcross’ suit, filed Thursday in Common Pleas Court in Philadelphia, alleges the newspaper played a part in bringing about the now-dismissed charges. The suit claims The Inquirer weaponized its newsroom against Norcross in a scheme designed by Nancy Phillips, an Inquirer editor who “harbored a well-known and widely acknowledged deep-seated personal animosity toward Mr. Norcross.”
The complaint accuses The Inquirer and Phillips of defamation, false light, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, and civil conspiracy. The lawsuit does not cite any specific inaccuracies in The Inquirer’s coverage, but rather describes a broader alleged conspiracy in which the newspaper sought to undermine Norcross.
The lawsuit centers on interview notes Phillips typed in 2019 that came into the possession of the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office during an investigation that led to the now-abandoned racketeering indictment against Norcross.
The interview was with former Cherry Hill Mayor Susan Bass Levin, according to Norcross’ suit. Bass Levin is the former president and CEO of Cooper University Health System’s Cooper Foundation. Norcross chairs the health system’s board, and his brother Philip A. Norcross currently serves as the foundation’s board chair, according to the organizations’ websites.
“Defendants handed over the notes containing falsehoods to prosecutors strictly out of revenge, harassment, and manipulation, acting with extreme, uncivilized cruelty,” the suit says.
Bass Levin in 2023 met with investigators and provided an account that “contradicted Ms. Phillips’ notes,” according to the lawsuit.
For instance, the notes indicated Norcross “berated” John Sheridan, a prominent lawyer and CEO of Cooper University Health Care, during a clash over a property deal connected to the racketeering indictment, according to the suit. Bass Levin told investigators she rejected that characterization and “stated that she would not use the word ‘berated,’” according to a summary of her interview with investigators that was obtained by The Inquirer and is referenced in the lawsuit.
Gabriel Escobar, The Inquirer’s editor and senior vice president, said in July that the newspaper had conducted an internal review and determined that the notes were not provided to authorities by The Inquirer.
“Speculation that Nancy Phillips, who has a long and distinguished track record as a reporter and editor, was working with state prosecutors is both false and outrageous,” Escobar said in a memo to staff.
The paper has not retracted any of its stories on Norcross. That coverage was led by Inquirer reporter Andrew Seidman and former Inquirer reporters Catherine Dunn and Jeremy Roebuck. Phillips “was not directly involved in the coverage but served as a conduit for information only she could access,” Escobar said in the July memo.
“In 2019, she was approached by a source who was offering unique insights on a significant and running story,” Escobar wrote. “Nancy conducted an interview, typed up the notes, and then shared them with two Inquirer reporters who were working on the story.”
The lawsuit does not provide evidence proving the allegation that Phillips provided the notes to authorities. Evidence discovery through litigation will reveal how the notes made their way to New Jersey authorities, the complaint says.
The Inquirer reported in July that a person with firsthand knowledge of how New Jersey prosecutors obtained the notes said Phillips had shared the file with “a third party” outside The Inquirer, not with authorities.
“It was not for the purpose of sharing the notes with authorities. It was for her own edification,” said the source, who is not an Inquirer employee and requested anonymity due to ongoing litigation threats related to the case. “The state did not receive the notes from Nancy Phillips directly.”
The Inquirer also reported in July that the interview notes were included in an electronic file titled “Stier Documents” in the state’s evidence discovery file from the original racketeering case. That fact is repeated in the lawsuit, which adds that the file “is believed to refer to Edwin H. Stier, a prominent former state prosecutor and private attorney.” Stier has been quoted by The Inquirer, including as part of its coverage of Norcross.
The suit notes that Stier has “personally represented” Sheridan’s son, Mark Sheridan.
Stier declined to comment Thursday.
Phillips, Escobar, and Inquirer publisher Lisa Hughes declined to comment or did not respond to a request for comment for this article. Escobar recused himself from involvement in this article, as did the reporters and editors who led The Inquirer’s coverage of the investigation into Norcross.
“The Inquirer is not going to comment on ongoing litigation,” said Evan Benn, the paper’s senior director of special projects and communications.
Defamation lawsuits against newspapers typically focus on a specific inaccurate claim. But Norcross’ complaint says he was defamed when The Inquirer and Phillips “handed over” the notes to prosecutors, allegedly knowing they contained false information.
Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations for defamation is one year, and the notes are now at least six years old. But the suit says that only after the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office abandoned the prosecution earlier this year was Norcross able to “pursue uncovering the corrupt mechanisms used to smear his name and threaten his freedom.” Prior to this year, according to the complaint, a strict protective order prohibited the public disclosure of the interview notes.
Norcross’ lawsuit asks for $100 million, which he would donate toward public education and public safety programs in Camden, Pennsauken, and Philadelphia, according to a statement from his spokesperson, Dan Fee.
Norcross’ allegation that Phillips was biased against him stems from her former romantic relationship with the late Lewis Katz, a wealthy New Jersey businessman who previously co-owned the paper with Norcross and H.F. “Gerry” Lenfest.
Norcross lost his stake in the paper during a contentious ownership fight that resulted in Katz and Lenfest outbidding him in an auction. Days later, Katz died when his private jet crashed in Bedford, Mass. (The paper is now owned by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism, a nonprofit endowed by Lenfest before his 2018 death.)
The suit alleges Phillips, who scored legendary scoops as a crime reporter before she became an editor, made statements that tied Norcross to Katz’s death. The suit provides no evidence proving this claim.
The suit also alleges Phillips, in a conversation, connected Norcross to the 2014 death of Sheridan and his wife, Joyce Sheridan. Authorities initially ruled the case a murder-suicide before they “officially changed his cause of death from suicide to ‘undetermined,’” the suit says.
“During a subsequent newsroom discussion, Ms. Phillips allegedly stated, without any factual basis, that Mr. Norcross was connected to the death of his longtime business associate,” the suit says.
No evidence proving that this occurred is included in the suit.
Inquirer reporter Abraham Gutman contributed to this article.
