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Trial starting in defamation lawsuit against romance author Nicholas Sparks

In this Oct. 7, 2014 file photo, Nicholas Sparks poses at the premiere of the film "The Best of Me" at Regal Cinemas L.A. (AP)
Saul Hillel Benjamin accuses Sparks of telling Epiphany School parents, a job recruiter and others that he suffered from mental illness. (AP)

Trial starting in defamation lawsuit against romance author Nicholas Sparks

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The Associated Press, Raleigh

Published: Updated:

The trial is getting underway in a lawsuit that accuses novelist Nicholas Sparks of defaming the former headmaster of a private Christian school he founded in North Carolina.

Saul Hillel Benjamin accuses Sparks of telling Epiphany School parents, a job recruiter and others that he suffered from mental illness.

The jury in the trial beginning Wednesday in Raleigh will decide whether the private K-12 school in Spark’s hometown of New Bern, the author and the foundation Sparks created to support the school should pay damages.

Benjamin’s lawsuit alleges that the author of “Message in a Bottle” and “The Notebook” defamed him and violated the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Benjamin was in the headmaster’s position for less than five months and says he was forced out.

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