NEW YORK, Nov 12 (Reuters) - Sarah Palin and the New

York Times ( NYT ) have explored settling the former Alaska governor and

Republican U.S. vice presidential nominee's closely watched

defamation case against the newspaper, their lawyers said on

Tuesday.

The disclosures came during a phone conference where U.S.

District Judge Jed Rakoff in Manhattan scheduled a retrial for

April 14, 2025.

That followed a federal appeals court's decision in August

to throw out a February 2022 verdict in the Times' favor, saying

it was tainted by several of the judge's rulings.

Palin, 60, sued the Times in 2017 over an editorial that

incorrectly suggested she may have incited a 2011 mass shooting

in Arizona where six people died and Democratic congresswoman

Gabrielle Giffords was seriously wounded.

The Times corrected the editorial quickly, but Palin said it

damaged her reputation and should pay damages. James Bennet, the

Times' editorial page editor at the time, is also a defendant.

In reviving Palin's case, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals in Manhattan said Rakoff wrongly excluded evidence that

Palin believed reflected the Times' "actual malice," and wrongly

instructed jurors on how much proof she needed to prevail.

The court also found it problematic that Rakoff announced

during jury deliberations his plan to dismiss the case even if

jurors ruled for Palin, and jurors saw his decision through news

alerts on their cellphones.

Palin and media critics have viewed the case as a vehicle to

overturn New York Times ( NYT ) v. Sullivan, a landmark 1964 U.S.

Supreme Court decision that made it much harder for public

figures to prove defamation.

The Sullivan decision requires proof that media demonstrated

"actual malice," meaning they knowingly published false

information or had reckless disregard for the truth.

Two conservative justices on the current high court,

Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch, have urged a reconsideration

of the Sullivan decision.

Palin was Alaska governor from 2006 to 2009. She was also

the late Republican Senator John McCain's running mate in the

2008 U.S. presidential election.

The case is Palin v. New York Times ( NYT ) et al, U.S. District

Court, Southern District of New York, No. 17-04853.