Daniel K. Stern (remember him?) sued Rita Cosby (remember her?) for libel back in 2007 over her book about Anna Nicole Smith, and a federal district judge ruled yesterday that much of the suit can go forward.

Federal District Judge Denny Chin's ruling—which denied much of Cosby's request for summary judgment in her favor—is notable for many things, including its decision that it's not defamatory per se to call someone a homosexual anymore (Cosby wrote that Stern gave Larry Birkhead a blowjob). Progress! But who knew that federal judges are now adding artwork to their decisions? The image above is from the ruling as it appeared on PACER, the federal court system's electronic filing system. Weird, huh?

Cosby wrote Blonde Ambition: The Untold Story Behind Anna Nicole Smith's Death as a quickie for Hachette's Grand Central Publishing in 2007, and basically blamed everything on Howard K. Stern, reporting that he was blamed by Smith's friends for her death and that he was gay for Birkhead. Stern is suing her for $60 million, and to judge from Chin's opinion, he's got a case:

Among the facts that will go before a jury: After Stern filed his lawsuit, Cosby went to the Bahamas to attempt to gather evidence for her claim that, according to Smith's former nannies, Smith used to sit and watch a tape of Birkhead and Stern having sex. Seems she actually didn't do that before publishing the book, and the nannies denied it. According to depositions quoted in the rulling, Cosby offered to pay two of them to file affidavits supporting the story, which they refused. Chin says that is "extremely troubling" and looks like Cosby was "attempting to obstruct justice by tampering with witnesses."

In other revolting lowlife-libel news, Joey Buttafuoco plans to sue his ex-wife Mary Jo Buttafuoco over allegations in her new horribly titled book, Getting It Through My Thick Skull. How do we know? Mary Jo Buttafuoco's publicist issued a press release trumpeting the threat. If Joey Buttafuoco is suing over it, it must be good! Actually no, it's not. It's awful.