Judge Sides With Sunda

Sunda Croonquist, a comedian who was sued two years ago by her Jewish in-laws for making jokes about them in her act, was vindicated April 30 when a federal judge dismissed the lawsuit.

Croonquist’s in-laws claimed the jokes subjected them to public ridicule.

They were seeking unspecified damages as well as removal of the jokes from Croonquist’s Web site, routine and recordings.

The judge instead ruled that many of the comedian’s jokes were clearly opinion and not fact, and therefore were protected by the First Amendment.