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We provide you with essential tools to advance First Amendment and media rights, and a supportive community in which to discuss emerging legal issues and the future of communication.
Court Affirms Agencies’ Obligations Under State Law By Adam A. Marshall In an opinion issued August 14, 2019, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals held that journalist and author Daniel Golden and publicist Tracy Locke are entitled to attorneys’ fees under New Jersey’s Open Public Records Act (“OPRA”) in their lawsuit against the New Jersey…
But In Practice Motions to Unseal Are Sometimes Necessary By Elizabeth Baldridge The California Penal Code contains express language that any executed and returned search warrant “shall be open to the public as a judicial record,” and under the California Constitution judicial records cannot be sealed absent specific, on-the-record findings supporting sealing. But a recent…
By Jeremy R. Gonzalez Title Source, Inc. v. HouseCanary, Inc., 04-18-00509-CV, 2019 WL 2996974 (Tex. App.—San Antonio July 10, 2019, pet. filed) involves an appeal from a trial court order sealing trial exhibits in a trade-secrets case. Title Source brought the underlying lawsuit against HouseCanary for breach of contract and fraud. HouseCanary counterclaimed for misappropriation…
FERPA Gives Student “Enhanced” Right of Privacy By Peter Michael Meloy The Montana Supreme Court recently rebuffed author Jon Krakauer’s effort to obtain records about the state university’s handling of a sexual assault complaint against a star athlete. Krakauer v. Christian, 2019 MT 153 (July 3, 2019). Background Jon Krakauer, an award-winning investigative journalist and…
By Kristel Tupja In a ruling parsing when conduct becomes sufficiently expressive to warrant First Amendment protection, the Ninth Circuit found that a lack of clothing at “bikini barista” coffee shops alone did not implicate speech rights and vacated a preliminary injunction against enforcement of a local dress code ordinance. The appellate court also rejected…
By Natalie A. Harris The Background McHenry County Illinois is 50 miles northwest of Chicago, but is geographically—and politically—much closer to rural Wisconsin. In the spring of 2018, Orville Brettman and Ersel Schuster were candidates running for seats on the McHenry County Board. In the run up to the March 2018 McHenry County Republican primary,…
Mark Sableman is a partner at Thompson Coburn in St. Louis. How’d you get into media law? What was your first job? Like many media lawyers, my first career was as a journalist. I started at the Clearwater Sun in Florida. I loved journalism, but from covering government, from city hall to the legislature, I…
On August 2, 2019, the Superior Court of Fulton County in Atlanta, Georgia, granted an anti-SLAPP motion to strike an injunction claim brought by a licensed public adjuster against Harry Samler, a consumer protection reporter for WGCL-TV/CBS46 in Atlanta known as “Better Call Harry,” seeking to chill CBS46’s news reporting on the plaintiff’s questionable business…
Applies Highly Deferential Standard of Review By Leslie Minora On July 17, 2019, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that a defamation plaintiff had proffered sufficient evidence to show an alleged implication caused his reputational harm, thus reversing an intermediate appellate court’s ruling that had vacated the plaintiff’s jury verdict. Menkowitz v. Peerless Publications, Inc., 40…
Fair Report Privilege Bars Claims By Abigail B. Everdell On October 15, 2018, former Trump campaign communications head Jason Miller filed a defamation claim in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Gizmodo Media Group, LLC, publisher of the news and politics blog Splinter, and Splinter managing editor Katherine Krueger. Miller’s…
By Mara Gassmann A judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed all claims brought against The New York Times and columnist Michelle Cottle by former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio arising out of an opinion column. Arpaio v. Cottle, et al., 1:18-cv-02387-APM, 2019 WL 3767104 (D.D.C. Aug. 9, 2019) (Mehta, J.)….
By Al-Amyn Sumar On August 6, 2019, the Second Circuit issued a long-awaited opinion in Sarah Palin’s defamation litigation against The New York Times, finding that a district court had erred in dismissing Palin’s complaint. Palin v. New York Times. Background Palin’s suit arose from a June 2017 editorial published by The Times. After conducting…
In June, the owners of a small college-town bakery in Ohio were awarded over $30 million in defamation damages against Oberlin College. The jury found that Oberlin was responsible for false statements made by student protestors labeling the bakery “a racist establishment with a long account of racial profiling and discrimination.” The verdict received a…
By Josef Ghosn A federal district court in New York denied HBO’s motion to dismiss an artist’s copyright infringement claim based on use of the plaintiff’s painting in a documentary about the “Slenderman murders” in Wisconsin. Coleman v. Home Box Office, Inc. et al, No. 1:18-cv-03510 (E.D.N.Y. Aug 6, 2019). The court rejected HBO’s fair…
By Ken Norwick In a case involving a TV network’s numerous unauthorized uses of high school yearbook photos of a then-anonymous student (but future Duchess) named Rachel Meghan Markle, U.S. District Judge George H. Wu in Los Angeles on August 22nd issued a comprehensive opinion denying the network’s motion for summary judgment on “fair use”…
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s Desk: The Assange Prosecution: Will It Affect the Press, and What Should We Do About It?George Freeman 10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Mark Sableman INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY The (Unfinished) Ballad of Gunslinger/©Troll Richard LiebowitzSteven Zansberg C.D. Cal.: Court Finds Network’s Uses of Yearbook Photos of Meghan Markle Not…
Left to right: Baruch Weiss, Floyd Abrams, George Freeman, and Jeff Hermes By George Freeman The MLRC held an open meeting of members on September 4 to discuss the status and ramifications of the Julian Assange prosecution. The meeting was at the New York offices of Ballard Spahr and was available to all MLRC members…
By Steven D. Zansberg You are probably already far more familiar than you wish you were with Richard Liebowitz, the notorious copyright plaintiff’s attorney based in Valley Stream, New York. Mr. Liebowitz has gained notoriety (some might say ignominy) for having filed over 1,500 copyright infringement actions across the nation (some 1,100 in S.D.N.Y.), and having…