US judge stands up for mother-in-law jokes

A judge has dismissed a case against a stand-up comedian who was sued for making mother-in-law gags.

Relatives of Sunda Croonquist, who jokes that her sister-in-law sounds like a cat on heat, said they were subjected to public ridicule.

New Jersey judge Mary L Cooper said the jokes were protected speech. She said they were clearly statements of opinion and not fact and therefore protected by the First Amendment.

The cat-in-heat joke, Judge Cooper said, was "colourful, figurative rhetoric that reasonable minds would not take to be factual".

Croonquist's husband, Mark Zafrin, is a partner in the law firm that defended her. "He's excited that I won, but he's not happy about the legal fees that his firm had to incur," she said.