10 Questions to a Media Lawyer: Tom Burke
Tom Burke is a Partner & Chair of the Pro Bono & Social Impact Committee at Davis Wright Tremaine in San Francisco. 1. How’d you get into media law? What was your first job? As a senior in the final two weeks of college, I was working as a director of evening talk shows at…
Letter to a Newer Media Lawyer
By Tom Kelley I am honored by the invitation to contribute to this series but need to begin with a caveat. My target audience for this letter will be lawyers who practice outside the coastal U.S. major media markets. I happen to have lived and worked in Denver, but the challenges I address in what…
Illinois Appellate Court Orders Chicago PD to Disclose Records Related to Fatal Shooting of a Minor
By Michael W. Shapiro On September 5, 2019, an appellate court in Illinois clarified that records relating to police misconduct could not be kept private under the state’s public records law on account of the records mentioning a minor with a criminal history. WMAQ TV v. Chicago Police Dept. The Chicago Police Department (“CPD”) had…
New Mexico Court Rules Settlement Agreements Held by Private Prison Medical Providers Are Public Records
By Gregory P. Williams The New Mexico Court of Appeals held that a private prison medical service provider’s settlement agreements were subject to the state’s public records law, as there was “no distinction” between the provider and the state for purposes of public access to these particular records. New Mexico Foundation v. Corizon Health, (Sept….
Ninth Circuit: First Amendment Protects Access to All Sounds of an Execution
But Not the Identities of the Drug Suppliers or Qualifications of Execution Team Members By Collin P. Wedel On September 17, 2019, the Ninth Circuit ruled the State of Arizona must allow witnesses to hear all sounds inside the death chamber during an execution, but stopped short of ordering it to disclose the identities of…
Pennsylvania Federal Court Dismisses Author’s First Amendment Claim Against Media Outlets and Libraries
By Leslie Minora Christopher Egli filed a federal lawsuit in Pennsylvania claiming that various media outlets and local libraries violated his First Amendment rights when they refused his requests to promote his book on their programs and at their facilities. In August, Judge Cynthia Rufe of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania dismissed Egli’s case, ruling…
Ninth Circuit Scrapes Bottom in CFAA Analysis
By Jeff Hermes On September 9, 2019, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued its opinion in hiQ Labs, Inc., v. LinkedIn Corp., No. 17-16783, a case involving efforts by professional networking service LinkedIn to shut down scraping of public-facing user data on its website by data analytics company hiQ Labs. The…
Third Circuit Once Again Sends Broadcast Ownership Rules Back to the FCC
By Emmy Parsons As Yogi Berra once said, “it’s déjà vu all over again.” For the fourth time in 15 years, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has remanded the broadcast ownership rules back to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC” or “Commission”), finding that the FCC failed in its latest review of…
California Court of Appeal Sides with Local Newspaper and Reverses Trial Court
Public Figure Plaintiff Failed to Produce Evidence of Actual Malice By Elizabeth Baldridge and Jean-Paul Jassy In an opinion issued September 30th, the California Court of Appeal reversed the Los Angeles Superior Court’s decision to allow a defamation claim to proceed against small local newspaper the Palisades News. The Court of Appeal based its decision…
Kansas Senate Majority Leader Loses Another Round in Defamation Claim over Medicaid-Expansion Column
By J. Eric Weslander One of Kansas’ most prominent politicians now has an 0-2 record in opposing anti-SLAPP motions in the defamation lawsuit he filed over a January 2019 newspaper column that explored his views on Medicaid expansion. In early July 2019 (as described in Reid Day’s article in the July 2019 MediaLawLetter), The Kansas…
D.C. Federal Court Rejects RICO Claim Over “Hate Group” Label
By Max Mishkin A federal judge in Washington, D.C. has tossed out a civil RICO lawsuit brought by the Center for Immigration Studies (“CIS”) against a senior official at the Southern Poverty Law Center (“SPLC”) and its former President arising out of the SPLC’s labelling CIS a “hate group.” Granting defendants’ motion to dismiss, Judge…
Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Wide-Ranging Defamation and Conspiracy Claims
By Tom Leatherbury and Marc Fuller In Walker v. Beaumont Independent School District, No. 17-40752, 2019 WL 4458378 (5th Cir. Sept. 18, 2019) (Smith, Duncan, Engelhardt), the Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of defamation, tortious interference, RICO, conspiracy, and other claims brought against two publishers and their employees, as well as almost thirty other defendants….
Doctor Who Claims Character in Judge’s Novel Defamed Him Loses on Appeal
John C. Greiner This case offers a twist on the cliché “truth is stranger than fiction.” In this case, “truth is more damning than fiction.” Dudee v. Philpot, (Ohio App. Sept. 27, 2019). Background Timothy Philpot was a long-time family court judge in Lexington, Kentucky. Judge Philpot is religiously and politically conservative, and over time grew…
From the Executive Director’s Desk: London Conference: An Extravaganza
Global Gathering Features Justice Breyer and Mock-Trial of Julian Assange George Freeman with Justice Stephen Breyer This year’s London Conference, held in mid-September, was a great success. We had such great topics, such great speakers, and such great weather that even Boris Johnson’s Brexit shenanigans couldn’t spoil London as a terrific backdrop for us. So…
MediaLawLetter September 2019
Download Publication MLRC London Conference: An ExtravaganzaGlobal Gathering Features Justice Breyer and Mock-Trial of Julian AssangeGeorge Freeman Letter to a Newer Media LawyerTom Kelley 10 Questions to a Media LawyerTom Burke LIBEL & PRIVACY Ohio App.: Doctor Who Claims Character in Judge’s Novel Defamed Him Loses on AppealJack Greiner Fifth Circuit Affirms Dismissal of Wide-Ranging…