Privacy
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.
News Anchor’s Right of Publicity Claims Can Proceed to Discovery
Tobin RajuThe court recognized Hepp sufficiently alleged that she had spent considerable time and effort cultivating an image, implying, but not expressly holding, her image had commercial value.
Kansas Supreme Court Censures Judge for Online Sex Pics
Eric WeslanderWriting that “Judges should be role models for society,” the Kanas Supreme Court censured recently retired magistrate judge Marty Clark for posting, while still on the bench, nude pictures of himself on an adult sex site.
Eleventh Circuit Affirms Dismissal of “Pantless Couponer’s” Privacy Lawsuit
Jennifer A. MansfieldThe Eleventh Circuit's order reaffirms that a federal court need not pretend that an exhibit is something it is not, merely because a plaintiff alleges so in the complaint.
West Virginia Court Applies Bartnicki and Affirms Dismissal of Wiretap Claims Against Fourteen Media Companies
Chad R. Bowman and Kaitlin M. GurneyOn appeal, plaintiffs offered a novel – if not bizarre – theory that their classroom conduct was only a matter of public concern within the state of West Virginia and thus Bartnicki did not protect the national media defendants.
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.
Forum Selection Clause Blows Case West of the Windy City
George DeshWhile 2Pac may have had California love and Tony Bennet left his heart in San Francisco, Windy City Rehab television personality Donovan Eckhardt hoped to keep his recently-filed suit in Illinois.
Court Dismisses Roy Moore’s Claims Against Sacha Baron Cohen Satire
Carl MazurekJudge Cronan of the Southern District of New York granted summary judgment of defendants Sacha Baron Cohen, Showtime, and ViacomCBS, dismissing with prejudice the defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and fraud claims brought against them by Roy and Kayla Moore. Moore v. Cohen.
As Harry And Meghan Become a Hybrid Royal /Celebrity Couple, What If Any Is Their Impact on Celebrity Reporting?
Amber Melville-BrownThe employment of a PR velvet glove around an iron legal fist appears to be the couple’s strategy for elbowing third party reporters and snappers out of the way as they take control of their own images.
New York Appeals Court Dismisses Porco v. Lifetime
Elizabeth Seidlin-BernsteinThe unanimous decision provides much-needed guidance to creators of content about real people and events, making clear that a docudrama about a newsworthy subject cannot give rise to a Section 51 claim unless it misleads viewers into believing that it is entirely accurate.