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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.
Download Publication LIBEL & PRIVACY 1st Cir.: First Circuit Lays Down the Gauntlet in Pleading Actual MaliceAffirms Dismissal of Candidate’s Libel Claim for Failure to Adequately Plead FaultSchatz v. Republican State Leadership Cmte. D.D.C.: Iqbal and Twombly Applied to Dismiss Libel Claim Conclusory Allegations of Actual Malice Insufficient to State a Claim Parisi v. Sinclair…
State Attorney General Withdraws Emergency Appeal at Eleventh Hour By Gerald F. Lutkus and Eric R. Thomason On Friday afternoon, March 9, 2012, the Indiana Court of Appeals granted an emergency motion to stay a lower court’s order which had authorized the release to the South Bend Tribune of certain telephone calls recorded by the…
Probable Cause Existed to Search Photographer’s Home The Fourth Circuit recently affirmed summary judgment dismissing a photographer’s Privacy Protection Act claim arising out of the search of her home following a violent protest. Sennett v. U.S., No. 11-1421 (4th Cir. Jan. 30, 2012) (Traxler, Motz, Keenan, JJ.). In a cautionary tale for citizen journalists, the…
By Samuel Fifer and Gregory R. Naron Illinois’ eavesdropping law is among the nation’s strictest. Over the past year, it has been subject to attack in the courts and state legislature, on the grounds that its application to citizens who seek to record the public activities and statements of on-duty law enforcement officers is unconstitutional….
By Harry Roque The Philippine Revised Penal Code’s provisions penalizing libel is “incompatible with Article 19, paragraph three of the International Covenant on Civil Political Rights,” or freedom of expression. This was the View expressed by the Human Rights Committee in a View adopted last October 26, 2011 during the 103rd session of the UN…
By David Hooper On March 21, 2012 a very important decision was given unanimously by the UK Supreme Court in Flood v Times Newspapers Limited [2012 UKSC11]. They reversed the decision of the Court of Appeal (2011 EWCA Civ 804) which had ruled that the Reynolds defence did not apply as details were given of…
Rule 12(b)(6) Motion Granted Where No Protectible Elements at Issue By Gordon P. Katz In 2006, The Cartoon Network began airing the animated half-hour television series, Class of 3000. The series was co-created and co-produced by well-established producer Tom Lynch and Andre “Andre 3000” Benjamin. Benjamin is a musical artist/entrepreneur who is perhaps best known…
By Ravi V. Sitwala Judge Paul A. Crotty recently granted Defendants’ motion to dismiss trademark claims brought by motivational speaker Simone Kelly-Brown and her company Own Your Communications, Inc. against Hearst Communications, which publishes O Magazine, Harpo Productions, which produces The Oprah Winfrey Show, Oprah Winfrey personally, and several advertisers and related entities. Kelly-Brown v….
By Shaina Jones Judge Barbara S. Jones of the Southern District of New York recently granted a motion to dismiss all claims against CBS Broadcasting Inc. and Bell-Phillip Television Productions asserted by The Naked Cowboy, whose real name is Robert Burck. Naked Cowboy, d/b/a Naked Cowboy Enters. v. CBS and Bell-Phillip Television, No. 1:11-cv-00942 (S.D.N.Y….
Majority Rejects First Amendment and “Limited Time” Challenges By Kenneth P. Norwick During the 1990s the U.S. Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, two separate changes to the Copyright Act that were both challenged as unconstitutional and that both led to important Supreme Court decisions, the most recent in January 2012. See Golan v. Holder,…
Recorded and Published Admissions Support Truth of Article By Itai Maytal The New York State Appellate Division has once again saved the day. On March 1, 2012, the Appellate Division, First Department partially reversed a lower court decision, and affirmed that truth is a valid ground for early dismissal of a defamation claim – particularly…
By Drew E. Shenkman & Charles D. Tobin In a matter of first impression in Indiana, the state’s Court of Appeals adopted a qualified privilege, under the U.S. and state constitutions, that protects the identity of an anonymous Internet communicator. In re Indiana Newspapers, Inc., 2012 WL 540796 (Indiana App. February 21, 2012). The appeals…
By Gregory P. Williams In the most significant defamation decision in New Mexico in many years, the New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that New Mexico requires a showing of injury to one’s reputation to establish liability for defamation. Smith v. Durden, No. 32,594 (N.M. March 5, 2012). Background Plaintiff Walter Smith III was an…
No Actual Malice on Mistaken Headline about SEC Charges By Bruce S. Rosen and Kathleen A. Hirce The New Jersey Supreme Court has reaffirmed both the state’s high bar for showing reckless disregard, and the use of summary judgment in actual malice cases, even where the publisher’s credibility is at issue. In Ronald Durando and…
District Court Rejects Precedent from First and Ninth Circuits In a non-media case, a D.C. federal district court recently held that the District’s anti-SLAPP statute, Section 16-5501 et seq., does not apply in federal court. 3M Company v. Boulter, et al., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12860 (D.D.C.) (Wilkins, J.). The plaintiff 3M Company sued an…
Statute Creates Immunity from Liability Not Immunity from Suit An order denying a motion to dismiss under Nevada’s anti-SLAPP statute, Nev. Rev. Stat. §§ 41.635-670, is not immediately appealable in federal court, the Ninth Circuit ruled last month in a non-media case. Metabolic Research, Inc. v. Ferrell, No. 10-16209 (9th Cir. Feb. 9, 2012) (Bybee,…
Conclusory Allegations of Actual Malice Insufficient to State a Claim The D.C. District Court recently dismissed libel and related claims against a fringe book publisher, holding that conclusory allegations of actual malice were insufficient to state a claim. Parisi v. Sinclair, No. 10-897, (D.D.C. Feb. 28, 2012) (Leon, J.). Background Defendant Larry Sinclair gained media…
Affirms Dismissal of Candidate’s Libel Claim for Failure to Adequately Plead Fault By Sigmund D. Schutz, Jonathan S. Piper, Benjamin S. Piper The First Circuit has become the first Court of Appeals to apply the Iqbal/Twombly federal pleading standard to a claim of actual malice. Schatz v. Republican State Leadership Cmte, No. 11-1437, 2012 U.S.App….