TV & VIDEO - April 27, 1987

A $14-million libel suit filed by “Miami Vice” star Philip Michael Thomas over two articles in the National Enquirer has been thrown out by a San Francisco federal judge. Thomas, who plays Ricardo Tubbs on the NBC series, accused the tabloid of conducting a “smear” campaign against his family by running the articles that appeared in 1985 and 1986. The first story described the 1980 conviction and 27-year prison sentence of Thomas’ brother, Marcus Thomas Jr., 41, on charges of rape, sodomy and burglary in Sacramento. The second story focused on the actor’s youth and contained comments that suggested Thomas was a “mama’s boy.” U.S. District Judge William Orrick ruled Thursday that the suit was filed a few days past the one-year statute of limitations on one article, and the second article in question was substantially true and not an invasion of privacy.