A federal judge in NC, USA has dismissed a lawsuit that accused Ashley Furniture and a trade association of denigrating bonded leather supplier Design Resources in a series of advertisements and news articles.

The dismissal came after U.S. Judge William Osteen Jr. granted motions for summary judgment filed by Ashley and Leather Industries of America, an Ohio-based trade group that also was a defendant.

In a 52-page ruling, Osteen said Design Resources “has not provided this court with any evidence rebutting Ashley’s showing that not so much as a single consumer was misled by (the Ashley advertisements.)”

“DRI has presented no evidence that … manufacturers actually read the advertisements or that they based buying decisions on the advertisements as opposed to any of other incalculable business reasons for not mass producing a line of products based on a sample order,” Osteen wrote.

Unless Design Resources files an appeal, Osteen’s ruling essentially ends a lengthy legal battle that began when the company and its owner, Alan Naness, filed suit in February 2010. The suit accused Ashley and LIA of conducting a “smear campaign” against NextLeather, a bonded leather product Design Resources launched in January 2007.

The suit claimed the effort was conducted largely through advertisements Ashley placed in Furniture/Today in 2007, and in two Furniture/Today news articles that year which quoted Dr. Nicholas Cory, who was then research director of LIA.

In granting the motions for summary judgment, Osteen reviewed dozens of depositions, legal briefs and other documents filed with the court, and determined there were no issues of fact that could be brought to trial.

The judge wrote that Cory’s statements in Furniture/Today articles published on July 2, 2007 and July 9, 2007 didn’t mention NextLeather or Design Resources by name, and said Cory was giving his opinion about bonded leather, not making a statement of fact.

In court filings, Design Resources argued that quotes from Cory in the articles implied the company was being deceptive by calling its product “bonded leather,” but the judge disagreed.

“No reasonable juror could conclude that Dr. Cory’s statement necessarily implies the attenuated reading DRI currently advances,” Osteen wrote.

Naness declined to comment on the specifics of the judge’s ruling, but said his company does plan to appeal the decision.