False Light
Court Dismisses False Light Claim Against New York Magazine Over “The Case of the Fake Sherlock”
Kaitlin Gurney, Chad Bowman, and Isabella Salomão NascimentoIn a decision reaffirming the Third Circuit’s actual malice pleading requirement, a Pennsylvania judge granted Vox’s motion to dismiss a renowned armchair detective’s false light invasion of privacy claim.
Court Dismisses Defamation Lawsuit Over Holocaust Complicity
Damon Dunn and Seth SternA judge dismissed defamation and false light invasion of privacy claims filed by three ethnic Poles who alleged that a Chicago Sun-Times opinion columnist ascribed “felonies under the laws of Illinois and Poland” to the “Plaintiffs and/or their families and Poles in general” when it referred to “widespread collaboration” in the killing of Jews during WWII.
Baltimore Jury Returns Defense Verdict in Public Official Media Defamation Trial
Chad R. Bowman, Maxwell S. Mishkin, and Emmy ParsonsA Baltimore jury returned a defense verdict at the end of a two-week, in-person trial against Sinclair Broadcast Group and its investigative reporter Chris Papst, in a media defamation and false light invasion of privacy case over a series of broadcast news reports.
Connecticut Court Upholds Fair Report Privilege and Anti-SLAPP Law
William S. Fish, Jr. and Alexa MillingerTwo recent Connecticut Appellate Court decisions based on The Hartford Courant’s reporting on a local lawyer’s professional sanctions affirmed the strength of the fair report privilege as a defense to a defamation claim under Connecticut law and also represented the first appellate case decided under the state’s relatively new Anti-SLAPP law.