John Doe A v. Penn State
First Penn State scandal lawsuit says Coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a boy more than 100 times and the abuse was enabled by the school's "negligent oversight."		 Bradley v. Lohan
Former Betty Ford Center employee sues Lindsay Lohan for assault, alleging the actress threw a phone at her and yanked her wrist while refusing to be breathalzyed.		 N.D. v. New York Post
Hotel maid allegedly raped by French politician sues the New York Post for falsely reporting that she is a prostitute who "routinely traded sex for money" with male guests.		 Reinhart v. Mortenson
Two Montana residents allege the author of "Three Cups of Tea" "fabricated material about his activities and work in Pakistan and Afghanistan" to sell the book.
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• Student alleges a prank involving a bottle rocket and another student's anus backfired, causing him to fall off the deck of a frat house.
Helmburg v. Alpha Tau Omega

• 5th Circuit reinstates a jury verdict finding a man employed by an engineering firm was sexually harassed by a male supervisor. "The text message 'I want cock' could be taken as an explicit sexual proposition." 
Cherry v. Shaw Coastal

• Massachusetts appeals court says the ex-wife of a man who fatally shot himself with a gun he had stolen cannot sue the gun's owner for wrongful death. "We conclude that public policy dictates that [Charles] Milot's criminal conduct acts as a bar to recovery."
Ryan v. Hughes-Ortiz

• Pennsylvania woman alleges her former employer discriminated against her because she wore a fake penis to assist her in her female-to-male transition. "Plaintiff's use of the prosthetic device was concealed and in no way interfered with the ability of Plaintiff to do her job." Davis v. J&J Snack Foods

• Son of a woman charged with murdering her husband cannot use the proceeds from the victim's life insurance policy to fund his mother's criminal defense. "[A]llowing the distribution of these proceeds to a third party who has clear intentions to transfer part of these proceeds to her, undermines the principles underlying the Slayer’s Act and federal common law."
In Re: Estate of Michael Burkland

• Oregon judge rules that a self-proclaimed "investigative blogger" is not "considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim." Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• Seattle judge says an actress cannot proceed anonymously in her suit against the IMDb.com website for publishing her age. "[W]hile Plaintiff may face public ridicule and embarrassment if she elects to go forward under her real name, the injury she fears is not severe enough to justify permitting her to proceed anonymously."
Doe v. Amazon.com

• Family of an 11-year-old girl who was crushed by a boulder of ice says forest ranger negligence caused her death. Rangers "did not warn users of the risk of harm associated with the dangerous, unstable snow and ice" at the Big Four Ice Caves in Snohomish County, Wash. Tam v. U.S.

• 3rd Circuit dismisses a breach of data security case against a payroll-processing company. "Appellants' allegations of an increased risk of identity theft as a result of the security breach are hypothetical, future injuries."
Reilly v. Ceridian Corp.

• Oregon judge denies First Amendment protections to a blogger. "Defendant cites no cases indicating that a self-proclaimed 'investigative blogger' is considered 'media' for the purposes of applying a negligence standard in a defamation claim."
Obsidian Finance v. Cox

• A transsexual who was fired from her government job while she was in the process of becoming a woman wins her sex discrimination suit. "[A] government agent violates the Equal Protection Clause’s prohibition of sex-based discrimination when he or she fires a transgender or transsexual employee because of his or her gender non-conformity."
Glenn v. Brumby

• New York man sues a Texas fertility clinic for wrongful insemination, alleging it failed to obtain his consent before using a sample of his sperm to impregnate his ex-girlfriend.
Pressil v. Advanced Fertility

• Nebraska judge rules that school officials may have illegally disciplined students for wearing t-shirts in honor of a slain friend suspected of gang membership. "[Q]uestions of fact remain whether Plaintiffs’ speech occurred in a context likely to provoke gang violence or other disruptions of school activities."
Kuhr v. Millard Public Sch. Dist.




Alltop_125x125.jpg
Is Media Privilege Available to Defamatory Dixie Chick? Print

A defamation case against Dixie Chicks member Natalie Maines could test whether the common-law protection for fairly and accurately reporting information from a public document extends to non-media defendants.

Natalie Maines

The explosion of the blogosphere has blurred the definition of “news media” and courts have granted bloggers the protection of press shield laws against subpoenas for their sources. But there does not appear to be any precedent for applying the “fair report” privilege outside the traditional media arena.

“The fair report privilege is 'a privilege for the press to report accounts of official proceedings or reports even when these contain defamatory statements,” a federal judge emphatically ruled in denying its protection to a private corporation. Fanelle v. LoJack Corp., 79 F. Supp. 2d 558 (2000).

Terry Hobbs of Memphis sued Maines in November, alleging the outspoken Dixie Chick libeled him in an open letter posted on the group's website which “taken as a whole, accused Plaintiff of committing the murder[s]” of three 8-year-old boys in West Memphis, Ark. He is the stepfather of one of the victims, Steven Branch.

The so-called West Memphis Three -- Damien Echols, Jesse Misskelley, and Jason Baldwin –- were convicted of the sensational murders in 1994. Hobbs' complaint also lists Maines' bandmates as defendants and accuses her of making defamatory comments at a “Free the West Memphis Three” rally.

In her letter, which was published Nov. 26, 2007, Maines describes evidence from a habeas corpus petition “showing that Damien Echols was wrongfully convicted.” Among other things, she says, DNA tests show that a hair belonging to Hobbs was found in a ligature used to strangle one of the victims and a hair at the crime scene matched “a friend of Hobbs that was with him that day.”

The letter also cited “New information implicating Terry Hobbs -- including his own statements made to police in recent interviews where he acknowledged that several of his relatives suspect him in the crime.”

Maines -– who was sued under her married name of Natalie Pasdar -– does appear to have provided a reasonably accurate report of information contained in the habeas petition and its attached exhibits, which include an affidavit by a private investigator who interviewed Hobbs in May 2007.

“All statements Defendants' allegedly made were part of an official report and/or a public meeting, and/or Defendants' actions constituted a protected comment on matters of public interest,” she says in her answer to the complaint.

While the Fanelle decision was definitive in limiting the scope of the fair report privilege to the press, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has said the purpose of a journalist's privilege is not solely to protect newspaper or television reporters, but to protect the activity of “investigative reporting.”

“[T]he critical question in determining if a person falls within the class of persons protected by the journalist's privilege is whether the person, at the inception of the investigatory process, had the intent to disseminate to the public the information obtained through the investigation,” the court said in von Bulow v. von Bulow, 811 F.2d 136 (1987).

That test may be rather unwieldy for the internet age. But Maines certainly can argue that she “investigated” the evidence in the West Memphis Three case and did not “gather[ ] information for personal reasons unrelated to dissemination of information to the public.”

COMMENT

  • Sam Bayard suggests on the Citizen Media Law Project blog that Maines will be able to assert the fair report privilege, citing the Arkansas Supreme Court's ruling in Butler v. Hearst-Argyle Television, 49 S.W.3d 116 (2001). That case involved a traditional media defendant but the court relied heavily on the Restatement of Torts, which says the privilege "extends to any person who makes an oral, written or printed report to pass on the information that is available to the public."

    		•



    By Matthew Heller
    1/17/09


     
    rc_insidestories
    • Jurors' Comments Fuel New Trial Bid in Bullying Case

      Jurors may have opened the door to a new trial in a Maryland school bullying case by saying they returned a verdict for the defense because they were afraid of setting a bad precedent for school systems throughout the country.
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    • Abuse Victim Can Sue Ex-DA Over 'Sexting' Messages

      A Wisconsin judge has protected a domestic violence victim from a rogue prosecutor, finding that she can sue him for sending her text messages in which he pressured her to have sex with him.
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    • Four Loko Maker Says Users Knew of Health Dangers

      The maker of Four Loko has previewed its defense of a slew of product liability lawsuits, arguing that the physical effects of the energy drink's mixture of alcohol and caffeine — far from being an undisclosed risk to consumers — are precisely what made it so popular.
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    • Mortician Sued for Speaking Ill of the Dead

      In a first-of-its-kind unprofessional conduct lawsuit, a woman has sued her former boss at a Michigan funeral home for making an indecent comment about the body of a dead man in front of her.
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    • 'Next Friends' of Orcas Bid to Stop SeaWorld Slavery

      An animal rights lawsuit against SeaWorld for enslaving five killer whales at its aquatic theme parks in San Diego and Orlando may sink even though humans are representing the orcas as their “next friends.”
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      In a blow to supporters of male “genital integrity,” an Indiana jury has ruled that a doctor did not injure a boy by circumcising him when he was an infant even though his mother wanted him to be left intact.
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    • Guest Can Sue Motel 6 Over Attack by Woman's Pimp

      A guest who paid for sex with a prostitute at a Motel 6 did not assume the risk of being attacked several hours later by the prostitute's pimp, a Pennsylvania judge has ruled in an unusual premises liability lawsuit against the motel operator.
      Read more...
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