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Everything MLRC has published, in any publication, since 2017.

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Sep 2024

Government Contractors Must Respond to Public Record Requests, Georgia Supreme Court Rules

Peter Canfield

On August 13, 2024, the Supreme Court of Georgia unanimously reaffirmed the public’s right under Georgia law to demand records from state and local agencies’ private contractors.

Sep 2024

Minnesota Court of Appeals Enjoins Trial Court from Enforcing Prior Restraint Orders Against Broadcast Station

Isabella Salomão Nascimento

The appellate court’s order enjoined the trial court judge from enforcing a pair of orders that prohibited a local television station from reporting on a document it legally obtained from the online court docket and that went so far as to require the document’s destruction.

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Sep 2024

Court SLAPPs County’s Suit to Restrain Publication of Text Messages

Linda Riedemann Norbut

In a significant victory for press freedom and a reaffirmation of First Amendment protections, a Florida court recently dismissed a lawsuit filed by Escambia County seeking to compel the return of text messages from County Commissioner Jeff Bergosh’s personal phone.

Sep 2024

9th Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Claimed Censorship Case Against Facebook and Fact-Checking Organizations Brought by RFK, Jr. Group

Daniela Abratt-Cohen

The Court held the district court properly dismissed a case filed by Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., that advocates against vaccines, finding that it failed to a state a claim that fact-checks, and other restrictions, regarding its ability to post and fundraise on Facebook violated the First Amendment…

Sep 2024

George Santos Loses Cameo Copyright Case

Raphael Holoszyc-Pimentel, Eric Feder, and Nathan Siegel

Santos sued after the show Jimmy Kimmel Live! used short videos of Santos saying absurd things in exchange for money on the site Cameo—videos that Kimmel allegedly tricked Santos into making. The defendants moved to dismiss Santos’ complaint on the grounds that they made a fair use of Santos’ videos.

Sep 2024

Discovery Trumps Statute of Limitations in Libel Suits

Jack Greiner

The Ohio Supreme Court recently decided that a libel plaintiff could bring a lawsuit well beyond the expiration of the one-year statute of limitations if the plaintiff didn’t know about the libel until after the statute had run.

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Sep 2024

Strange Facts, But Wire Service Defense Wins the Day in Florida

Charles Glasser

While the facts of the case are almost one-in-a-million, the legal issues – involving libel by embedding allegedly defamatory tweets written by others – is something we are dealing with more and more frequently.

Sep 2024

Journalist Prevails on Fair-Report Privilege Defense After Unsealing Critical Court Records

Matthew S.L. Cate and Robert S. Gutierrez

A series of news articles fairly and accurately reported on criminal proceedings, even if they deployed “some literary license” in reporting that a disbarred California lawyer was “linked to [a] black eye,” a district court judge ruled in August.

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Sep 2024

Maine Libel Decision Favoring Media Organizations Affirmed

Cynthia Counts and Rachel Werthehimer

The First Circuit affirmed the summary judgment decision of the District of Maine that dismissed defamation claims filed by a former Veterans Administration podiatrist against four media organizations and four reporters.

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Sep 2024

Stars and Stripes and the Union Jack

George Freeman

MLRC Executive Director on how flag burning could influence the presidential election; and ponders just what makes London, site of the upcoming MLRC Conference, such an unusually pleasurable city.

Aug 2024

Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer

Michael Berry

Ballard Spahr partner on the Hulk Hogan trial, lawyering in the tropics, college ball, the best food in Philly and more.

Aug 2024

Analyst Report and New York Times Article About Crypto Crash Not Defamatory

Dana Green

Having failed to show that Arkham’s report was published with actual malice, the court readily found that Dfinity also failed to establish that The Times’s summary of those same allegations was published with actual malice.

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Aug 2024

First Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity in First Amendment Retaliation Case

Marc J. Randazza

The decision in Berge v. Sch. Comm. of Gloucester, (1st Cir. July 15, 2024), underscores the robustness of free speech protections and marks a rare application of an exception to qualified immunity where the public official’s acts were obviously unconstitutional.

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Aug 2024

“Vanderpump Rules” Revenge Porn Lawsuit May Proceed, Judge Rules

Matt Kristoffersen

Judge Crowley reasoned that Madix did not have her boyfriend’s consent to access the contents of his phone.

Aug 2024

Docuseries Not Defamatory as a Matter of Law

Emmy Parsons

A Florida state court recently held that a docuseries titled Paul T. Goldman did not defame the woman on whom one of the main characters was based, holding that the series was not capable of defamatory meaning and was not “of and concerning” the plaintiff.

Aug 2024

Pennsylvania Enacts Anti-SLAPP Statute

Michael Berry

The new law is the culmination of more than a decade of lobbying by free-speech advocates from across the political spectrum.

Aug 2024

Beware the Attacks on the First Amendment by a Trump Presidency

George Freeman

The MLRC stands ready to help in whatever way it can.

Jul 2024

Ten Questions to a Media Lawyer

Kevin Goldberg

Freedom Forum First Amendment specialist on his start in the business, conversations with Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez, why he avoids the term "weaponizing the First Amendment," and more.

Jul 2024

A View from the Northern Ireland Bench

Mr. Justice Adrian Colton

I am delighted to be able to provide a perspective from the Northern Ireland Bench on freedom of expression, the right to privacy and the protection of reputation.

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