Ethics Corner: ABA Weighs In on Ethical Boundaries of Social Media Research on Jurors in Voir Dire
Ignoring Jurors’ Use of Social Media Is No Longer an Option By Luke J. Gilman Understanding the ethical duties and limits of researching jurors’ activity on the internet, particularly on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has bedeviled both attorneys and judges in recent years. The American Bar Association has recently weighed in…
Dutch Broadcaster Wins Libel Case Brought by Ryanair
Questions About Flight Safety Not Defamatory By Tessel Peijnenburg and Jens van den Brink In April, a court in Amsterdam dismissed a libel suit brought by Irish budget airline Ryanair against Dutch broadcaster KRO over news reports that raised air safety issues about the carrier. Ryanair Ltd., v. Katholieke Radio Omroep, (April 16, 2014). At…
Access Roundup: Other Recent Access Cases of Note
Win for Access to Public Employee Information The home addresses, but not the names, of retired public employees who receive retirement benefits are exempt from disclosure under New York’s Freedom of Information Law, the New York Court of Appeals has ruled. In re the Matter of Empire Center for New York State Policy v. New…
Court Rejects Access to Warrantless Wiretapping Cases Involving Acquittals, Dismissals
A divided D.C. Circuit court panel ruled that it would be an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy for federal prosecutors to disclose the cases in which they obtained warrantless cellphone data to track defendants’ whereabouts and did not obtain convictions. American Civil Liberties Union v. Department of Justice, No. 13-5064 (D.C. Cir. May 9, 2014)….
VA Supreme Court Denies Public Records Request for Climate Change E-mails
Justices Adopt Broad Definition of ‘Proprietary’ Information The Virginia Supreme Court adopted an expansive definition of what constitutes proprietary information exempt from public records requests in rejecting a conservative legal nonprofit’s request for access to a former University of Virginia professor’s e-mails and other documents. American Tradition Institute v. University of Virginia, No. 130934 (Va….
Newspaper Wins Records Battle For Emails Seized in John Doe Investigation
By Steven Mandell, Steven Baron, and Natalie Harris In May 2010, the Milwaukee County District Attorney initiated a secret John Doe proceeding to investigate allegations that public employees and officials were misusing public resources for political purposes in connection with the gubernatorial campaign of then-Milwaukee County Executive, Scott W. Walker. In Wisconsin, a John Doe…
Times-Picayune Reporters Testify About Alleged Grand Jury Leak
Murder Defendants Sought to Have Indictments Dismissed A federal judge recently ruled that two murder defendants could subpoena reporters from the Times-Picayune for an evidentiary hearing to try and prove that the FBI violated grand jury secrecy rules and sought to influence grand jurors’ decision to indict. United States v. Howard, No. 2:12-cr-00001 (E.D. La….
Sidebar: Publishing Drone Video That Falls from the Skies
By Charles D. Tobin and Christine N. Walz It’s clear that the FAA currently considers it unlawful for a newsroom to strap a camera onto a drone, take images, and publish them. Whether the ban will survive the current litigation, or be replaced by a properly promulgated set of regulations, remains to be seen. Also…
News Media Coalition Weighs in to Support Drone Photographer in NTSB Litigation
By Charles D. Tobin and Christine N. Walz A coalition of news organizations, arguing that the use of unmanned aerial systems “UAS” or “drones”) for newsgathering should not constitute a “business purpose” under federal regulation, is supporting a drone photographer’s administrative appeal of a $10,000 fine. This is the first organized effort by a group…
Fraud and Deceptive Conduct Claims Dismissed Over BBB Rating and Accreditation
No Personal Jurisdiction; Ratings Protected Opinion By Julia C. Atcherley A New York trial court dismissed allegations of common-law fraud and violations of General Business Law §§ 349 and 350 for deceptive trade practices, brought by New York resident Michael Steinmetz against the Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc. (“CBBB”) and Better Business Bureau of…
Texas Court Affirms in Part Jury Verdict for “Talking Trash” About Corporate Competitor
Retains Doctrine of Defamation Per Se, But Limits Damages While Texas Disposal and Waste Management were competing for two municipal solid waste contracts, Waste Management circulated a memo that criticized the engineering design of the Texas Disposal landfill. Most landfills have a synthetic composite liner at the bottom and a “blanket” (continuous) leachate collection system…
Iowa Supreme Court Protects Candidate and His Campaign Ad
Finding No Actos Malice By Michael A. Giudicessi and Leita Walker In reversing $231,000 in libel verdicts for a winning Iowa Senate candidate against his opponent and the Iowa Democratic Party, the Iowa Supreme Court prescribed New York Times v. Sullivan as the cure for defamation claims stemming from charges of unethical marketing of prescription…
O’Bannon Judge Weighs In Again On Alleged Rights Of Publicity In Sports Game Broadcasts
By Nathan Siegel The closely-watched consolidated lawsuits by current and former NCAA athletes dubbed “In re NCAA Student-Athlete Likeness Litigation” is only now about to begin the first of two trials, but the case has already had a substantial impact on the relationship between the First Amendment and the right of publicity. Last year, the…
Tennessee Fair Report Privilege Shields Fox Affiliate from Defamation Claims
By J. Bennett Fox, Jr. and Lucian T. Pera The United States District Court for the Western District of Tennessee dismissed defamation claims against Fox Television Stations, Inc., holding that the Tennessee’s fair report privilege barred claims against its Memphis station, WHBQ-TV, because its brief “Crimestoppers” segment was a fair and accurate summary of a…
South Carolina Jury Awards $650,000 to Lobbyist in Libel Suit Against the Sun News
On May 8, 2014, a jury in Horry County, South Carolina, rendered a verdict in favor of Myrtle Beach-area lobbyist, Mark Kelley, in his libel suit against The Sun News, and investigative reporter, David Wren. Kelley v. Sun Publishing Co. Inc., File No. 2012-CP-26-3804 (S.C. Cir.). Kelley sued over a series of articles examining gubernatorial…
Section 230 Bars Liability for Linking to and “Endorsing” Allegedly Defamatory Content
Court Affirms Dismissal of Claims Against NBCUniversal By Erik Bierbauer and Elizabeth Alicea The Connecticut Appellate Court in a 3-0 decision held that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act immunizes a website from liability for linking to and “endorsing” allegedly defamatory content posted by a third party elsewhere on the Internet. Vazquez v. Buhl,…
MLRC Partners with Berkeley for Legal Frontiers in Digital Media Conference
On May 15-16, 2014, MLRC held its Seventh Annual Legal Frontiers in Digital Media Conference in Silicon Valley. This year MLRC partnered with the Berkeley Center for Law & Technology and convened at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. We gratefully acknowledge our Conference co-chairs Rosemarie Ring, Munger Tolles & Olson; and Regina Thomas,…
“Parody” Websites Transferred To Sun-Times Media via National Arbitration Forum
Panel Found Respondent to Be a “Serial Cybersquatter” By Damon E. Dunn In an arbitration between Sun-Times Media IP, LLC. (“Sun-Times”) and the registrant of the internet domain name, a Panel of the National Arbitration Forum ordered the disputed domain name transferred to the Sun-Times. See Sun-Times Media IP, LLC v. WUITAS, Inc. d/b/a ABILICOM…
New York Court of Appeals Refuses to Dismiss Criminal Conviction for Online Impersonation
Statute Is “Broad Enough to Capture Acts Intended to Cause Injury to Reputation” By Henry R. Kaufman and Michael K. Cantwell The New York Court of Appeals recently upheld the criminal conviction of the son of a University of Chicago professor for criminal impersonation and forgery after he was found to have engaged in an…
First Amendment Protects Search Engine Results
By Carey R. Ramos and Jacob J. Waldman In a scholarly and closely reasoned opinion issued in Zhang v. Baidu.com Inc., 2014 WL 1282730 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 28, 2014), Judge Jesse M. Furman of the SDNY forcefully declared that the First Amendment shields an Internet search engine from an action challenging its “editorial judgments about which…
European Court of Justice Recognizes “Right to Be Forgotten”
Decision That Search Engine Must Delink Causes Huge Controversy By Gavin Millar QC The Court of Justice of the European Union (“CJEU”) in Luxembourg decided that a Spaniard could force Goggle to remove two old newspaper articles from its search index against his name. Google v Spain (May 3, 2014). Everyone knows that plaintiff asserted…
MediaLawLetter May 2014
Download Publication INTERNET European Court of Justice Recognizes “Right to Be Forgotten”Decision That Search Engines Must Delink Causes Huge ControversyGoogle v. Spain S.D.N.Y.: First Amendment Protects Search Engine ResultsPlainitffs Sued Chinese Search Engine for Not Linking to Pro-Democracy SitesZhang v. Baidu.com Inc. New York Court of Appeals Refuses to Dismiss Criminal Conviction for Online ImpersonationStatute…