Daily Record

A prominent Baltimore criminal defense attorney has filed a $13 million defamation lawsuit against The Baltimore Sun Co. and two of its journalists, alleging a pair of articles that appeared in the newspaper a year ago contained false or out-of-context reporting and ruined his reputation.

The stories, written by Melissa Harris and Julie Bykowicz, discussed allegations that the lawyer, Ivan J. Bates, had engaged in witness tampering when he negotiated a deal by which a relative of his client would pay the victim to settle the case.

Bates denied wrongdoing in one of The Sun articles in question and stood by that position in his lawsuit filed Friday in Baltimore City Circuit Court and in an interview Monday afternoon.

“The only thing I have as a lawyer is my name and my integrity, and that’s all I want back,” Bates said. “It’s like it was a bad dream and I want to wake up from it.”

Calls to The Sun Editor J. Montgomery Cook and to the public relations office of the newspaper’s Chicago-based parent, the Tribune Co., were referred to The Sun’s spokeswoman, who did not return messages Monday.