MediaLawLetter December 2014
Download Publication MLRC From the Executive Director’s Desk Sony Hack and the Press DCS Annual Meeting This Year’s Accomplishments and Plans for 2015 LIBEL & PRIVACY Fla.: “Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli” Jurors Reject Ex-Mafia Enforcer’s Defamation Claim Milano v. Halifax Media Holdings, LLC, Daytona Beach News Journal D. Minn.: Court Denies Defendant’s Post-Trial…
DCS Annual Meeting Reviews Year’s Accomplishments and Plans for 2015
The Defense Counsel Section’s Annual Meeting was held on Thursday, November 13, 2014 at Proskauer Rose. DCS President Louis P. Petrich called the meeting to order and gave a status report on membership. As of October 31, 2014, the DCS was comprised of 197 full member firms and 11 associate member firms, including firms in…
The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2013
House Hearing on Cameras in Court Bill By Mickey H. Osterreicher On December 3, 2014 a hearing was held in front of the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet regarding H.R. 917, The Sunshine in the Courtroom Act of 2013. The bill would permit electronic coverage of court proceedings in federal court…
Federal FOIA Reform Bill Fails in Last Days of Congress
Bipartisan Support Gives Hope for Reintroduction in 2015 By Jeff Kosseff This year, both chambers of Congress passed similar legislation to reform the Freedom of Information Act, but they did not reconcile the bills before Congress adjourned for the year. Their failure to reach a final agreement means that FOIA reform will not occur in…
Florida Appellate Court Holds Open Meeting Law Applies to Collective Bargaining
Voids a Pension Agreement Reached During Federal Mediation By George Gabel, Tim Conner, and Jennifer Mansfield In a crucial victory for transparency, a Florida state appeals court ruled on Oct. 21, 2014, that the law will not “condone hiding behind federal mediation” when municipal governments try “to thwart the requirements of the Sunshine Law” by…
Appeals Court Prohibits Secret Witness Testimony In Criminal Trial
Court Rejects Murder Defendant’s Bid for Closed Testimony By David J. Bodney and Chris Moeser The Arizona Court of Appeals recently overturned a trial court’s order that allowed secret testimony by an unidentified defense witness during the sentencing re-trial of Jodi Arias, who faces the death penalty after being convicted of the murder of her…
The SAVE Act: Will Congressional Efforts to Stem Sex Trafficking Undermine Section 230?
By Jeff Hermes Two bills directed at stopping the online advertisement of sex trafficking are currently making their way through Congress with the same title: the “Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2014,” or “SAVE Act.” The House version, H.R. 4225, was introduced in March of this year and passed the House on May…
Federal Court Strikes Florida Lawyer-Advertising Rules
State Bar’s “Naked Paternalism” Violates First Amendment By Charles D. Tobin & Brian J. Goodrich Finding that “naked paternalism” will not justify “protecting the public from truthful information,” a Florida federal court this month held that two Florida Bar rules restricting attorney advertising violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Rubenstein v. The…
Kansas Court Lifts Prior Restraint on “In Cold Blood” Investigation Files
First Amendment Trumps State and Family Privacy Interests in Old Criminal Case Files After approximately two years in place, a Kansas district court last month lifted a prior restraint barring publication of information contained in notebooks created by the chief investigator of the 1959 Clutter family murders, a case famously covered in the non-fiction novel…
Illinois Legislature Passes New Eavesdropping Law
Bill Awaits Governor’s Signature By Gail Schnitzer Eisenberg The Illinois General Assembly passed a new eavesdropping statute December 4th to replace the provisions the Illinois Supreme Court struck down this past March. SB1342 (98th ILGA), as amended by House Floor Amend. No. 6. The bill awaits Governor Pat Quinn’s signature before becoming law. The statute…
Second Circuit Affirms Summary Judgment in Big Short Libel Case
By Paul J. Safier On November 14, 2014, the Second Circuit affirmed a grant of summary judgment to all defendants in the libel suit arising out of Michael Lewis’s best-selling book on the origins of the 2008 financial crisis, The Big Short: Inside The Doomsday Machine. Chau v. Lewis, 2014 WL 5904779 (2d Cir. Nov….
Libel Claim Over Newspaper Headline Reinstated
Headline Stating Lawyer “Deserts Client” Was False and Defamatory Reversing summary judgment for the Times-Picayune newspaper, a Louisiana appellate court held that a headline stating “Defense attorney deserts client midtrial,” was false and defamatory. Brown v. Times Picayune, No. 2014CA0160, (La. App. Nov. 3, 2014) (Kuhn, Pettigrew, Welch, JJ.). The court ruled the headline was…
Minnesota Court Denies Defendant’s Post-Trial Motions in Jesse Ventura Libel Case
Sufficient Evidence of Actual Malice; Court Allows Unjust Enrichment Damages The Minnesota federal district court last month denied defendant’s motion for JNOV or a new trial in the highly publicized Jesse Ventura libel case. Ventura v. Kyle, No. 12-472 (D. Minn. Nov. 26, 2014) (Kyle, J.) The court held there was sufficient evidence of actual…
“Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli”
Jurors Reject Ex-Mafia Enforcer’s Defamation Claim By Michael Gay On December 2, 2014, a Florida state court jury ruled in favor of a newspaper defendant in a defamation lawsuit brought by an admitted associate of New York’s Bonanno crime family. Milano v. Halifax Media Holdings, LLC, Daytona Beach News Journal, No. 2011-CA-00790 (Fla. Cir. Flagler…
From the Executive Director’s Desk
By George Freeman This was going to be a typical year-end column: best wishes for the holidays, a review of some of the highlights of 2014, a look ahead as to MLRC activities in 2015, maybe even some joking references as to what certain media companies and law firms would wish to receive under their…