MediaLawLetter February 2011
Download Publication LIBEL & PRIVACY N.J.: Truth Defense Includes Expunged Materials, NJ High Court RulesExpungement Does Not Make a True Fact FalseG.D. v. Kenny N.H.: Sheriff Candidate Has No Privacy Claim over Disclosure of Annulled ConvictionExpungement Doesn’t Shroud Record in SecrecyLovejoy v. Linehan Va. Cir.: Virginia Student Wins $5 Million Libel Damage VerdictNewspaper Article Implied…
Refresher on Legal Ethics for Media Lawyers – The “Corporate Miranda” Warning
By Richard M. Goehler At the recent workshop on legal ethics for media lawyers at the ABA Forum on Communications Law’s 16th Annual Conference in Palm Springs, Jonathan Anschell, Bob Lystad and Bruce Johnson facilitated an excellent session which included a lively discussion on the “Corporate Miranda” warning. The discussion provided a very timely and…
Court Invalidates $1 Million Fee for Access to Electronic Public Records
The trial-level round of Maine’s most complex and hard-fought right-to-know case in recent memory ended in victory for the public with a decision issued on February 22, 2011. MacImage of Maine, LLC v. Androscoggin County, Slip Op., CV-09-605 (Cumb.Cty.Sup.Ct. Feb. 20, 2011) (Warren, J.). The case pit a business owner and entrepreneur who seeks to…
Plaintiffs in Girls Gone Wild Civil Suit Allowed to Proceed Anonymously
The Eleventh Circuit this month granted a request by four young women plaintiffs to proceed anonymously in their civil lawsuit against the producers of the Girls Gone Wild video series. Plaintiff B v. Joseph R. Francis, No 10-10664 (11th Cir. February 1, 2011) (Dubina, Anderson, Moody, JJ.). Florida Freedom Newspapers intervened at the trial level…
Supreme Court Assumes Constitutional Right to Informational Privacy, But Allows Broad Background Checks on Government Contractors
On January 19, 2011, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that NASA’s background checks of its contract employees did not run afoul of the assumed right to informational privacy. NASA v. Nelson, 131 S.Ct. 746 (2011). The Government, acting as “proprietor” and manager of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), rather than in its capacity as…
Criticism Submitted to Florida Bar on Proposed Regulation of Electronic Devices in Courtrooms
The Judicial Administration Rules Committee of the Florida Bar proposed a new rule that would allow judges and quasi-judicial officers to remove electronic devices from jurors during trial and deliberations, to confiscate any electronic devices during proceedings, and order deletion of recordings or images on electronic devices. After a one month comment period, the committee…
Other Side of the Pond: Developments in UK and European Media Law
After a period in the shadows, libel tourism has recently resurrected its head. The claimant lobby assert that such cases are rare. However, the fact that a low threshold of publication can support an internet-based action certainly does have a chilling effect on publication. With the legal costs potentially so large even with a very…
Supreme Court of Canada Addresses Group Libel
By Paul Schabas The Supreme Court of Canada continues to actively review defamation law (see, e.g., Paul Schabas and Erin Hoult, “Supreme Court of Canada Creates Defense of Public Interest Responsible Communication”, MLRC MediaLawLetter, pp. 29-32, December 2009). In its latest decision, Bou Malhab v. Diffusion Métromédia CMR inc., 2011 SCC 9 (February 17, 2011),…
N.Y. Trial Court Finds Criminal Defendant’s Sixth Amendment Rights Trump State Shield Law for Identity of Confidential Source
In January, a Brooklyn, New York, trial judge took the unprecedented step of ruling that, in the “exceptional circumstances” of the case before him, a criminal defendant’s Sixth and Fourteenth Amendment rights trumped the state Shield Law’s absolute privilege protecting the identity of reporters’ confidential sources. In re Subpoena [People v. Diaz], 2011 WL 445809…
New Jersey Justices Lean Toward Narrow Definition of “News Media” at Argument
If oral argument is any indication, the New Jersey Supreme Court appeared ready to narrow the definition of “news media” in the state’s broadly-interpreted Shield Law, indicating that bloggers and posters would not automatically qualify for the shield. The Court on February 8 heard argument in the much anticipated case of Too Much Media LLC…
Pennsylvania Court Sets Standard for Unveiling Anonymous Internet Defamation Defendants
In the first Pennsylvania appellate court decision to address the standard for requiring the disclosure of the identities of anonymous defamation defendants, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently formulated a four-part test based on Dendrite Int’l, Inc. v. Doe, No. 3, 775 A.2d 756 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 2001), and Doe No. 1 v. Cahill,…
U.S. District Court in Minnesota Grants Summary Judgment in Favor of CBS
A federal judge in Minnesota recently granted summary judgment in favor of CBS Broadcasting Inc. and WCCO-TV reporter Esme Murphy in a defamation action arising from a television news report that raised questions about a $1.8 million home giveaway. Concluding that the plaintiff, the sponsor of the contest, had voluntarily thrust himself to the forefront…
Not-So-Posh Libel Outcome for David Beckham
On February 14, 2011, District Judge Manuel Real of the Central District of California gave soccer legend David Beckham a not-so-happy Valentine’s Day present when he dismissed Beckham’s defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims against In Touch Weekly magazine’s publishers and editor-in-chief. Beckham v. Bauer Publishing Company, L.P., et al., 10-cv-07980 (C.D.Cal.). Background…
“Monetizing a Virtual Identity”: Ninth Circuit Hears Appeal of Right of Publicity Suit
If good facts make bad law and a sympathetic plaintiff is worth more than good law on point, then the case of Keller v. Electronic Arts, now on appeal before the Ninth Circuit, may well extend the nebulous “right of publicity” into the interactive digital ether. For nothing has done more to advance the development…
Washington’s Right of Publicity Statute Struck Down as Unconstitutional in Part
By Shelley Hall A federal district court struck a portion of Washington’s Personality Rights Act (“WPRA”) as unconstitutional. Judge Thomas S. Zilly of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington issued a comprehensive order in Experience Hendrix, L.L.C. v. Hendrixlicensing.com, Ltd, Case No. C09-285Z (dated Feb. 8, 2011), 2011 WL 564300, the…
Florida Jury Socks Radio Show Host with $1.61 Million Damage Award
A Florida state court jury this month rendered a verdict in favor of a businessman on a defamation claim against a radio talk show host who stated that plaintiff was “trolling for children” in a trailer park. Mask v. Guetzloe, No. 2007-CA-016024-O (Fla. Cir. Ct. jury verdict Feb. 23, 2011). The jury also found against…
Virginia Student Wins $5 Million Libel Damage Verdict
A Virginia jury awarded five million dollars to a student who claimed a report in The (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot had falsely “implied and insinuated” that he had “routinely bullied” a fellow student. Webb v. Virginia-Pilot, (Va. Cir. Ct. jury verdict Feb. 11, 2011). The December 18, 2009 article was published a day after the Circuit Court…
Sheriff Candidate Has No Privacy Claim Over Disclosure of Annulled Conviction
The New Hampshire Supreme Court affirmed dismissal of a private facts claim based on the disclosure of an annulled criminal conviction. Lovejoy v. Linehan et al., No. 2010-343 (Feb. 23, 2011). Ruling on non-constitutional grounds, the court held that the state’s annulment statute does not create a private civil cause of action and disclosure of…
Truth Defense Includes Expunged Materials, New Jersey High Court Rules
New Jersey’s High Court, in the second of five major media decisions it is considering, declared the federal and state constitutions required that defendants be entitled to use expunged records in order to assert a defense of truth. G.D. v. Kenny, No. A-85-09 (Jan. 31, 2011). Eight months after reinforcing and strengthening the state’s fair…