BLOOMINGTON -- Claims may move forward that a police union representative defamed a Bloomington police lieutenant in comments to the news media, according to a court ruling.

Lt. Tim Stanesa was accused in 2007 by labor representative Eric Poertner, of the Police Benevolent & Protective Association of Illinois, of being drunk at a party and reporting to a standoff on North Lee Street.

Stanesa was cleared of any wrongdoing and filed a lawsuit against Poertner and the union claiming that the accusations cast him in a false light and defamed his reputation.

A portion of the lawsuit, which centered on a letter Poertner wrote to police officials, was dismissed. But accusations remain related to Poertner's statements about Stanesa to news media.

In a written ruling issued Thursday, Judge Michael Prall agreed with Stanesa's claim that statements to news media qualified as "actual malice" under state law.

Prall granted a portion of the union's motion that Stanesa should be required to provide specific details of when and where the statements were published. The judge gave Stanesa more time to provide those details.

Lawyers for the union previously argued that the accusations against Stanesa were based on eyewitness reports from the standoff and not Poertner's personal knowledge.

Stanesa is asking for more than $50,000 against the union and Poertner.

A new hearing date has not been set on the lawsuit.