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Northeast
Hartford Courant v. Pellegrino, 380 F.3d 83 (2d Cir. 2004). LSKS represented a coalition that included Hearst Corporation, The New York Times, and The Associated Press, among others, who appeared as amici curiae in a case challenging a broad system of secret judicial proceedings administered by the Connecticut courts. At the specific request of the Second Circuit upon the filing of the coalition’s brief, LSKS presented oral argument in the appeal and helped to secure an important ruling articulating the fundamental First Amendment requirement that courts maintain a public docket of their proceedings.
In re ABC, Inc. (United States v. Stewart), 360 F.3d 90 (2d Cir. 2004). LSKS represented a coalition of media organizations, which included the four major broadcast networks and New York and national print media, in an effort to secure access to voir dire (jury selection) proceedings in Martha Stewart’s criminal trial. After the district court held that the press and public would not be permitted to attend voir dire, the Second Circuit reversed, concluding that the substantial publicity surrounding the trial was not a sufficient reason to conduct voir dire in secret.
Taub v. Cullen, 862 A.2d 68 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2004). LSKS successfully represented The Allentown Morning Call newspaper in its motion to unseal certain family court domestic-violence records relating to convicted serial killer Charles Cullen, the so-called “Angel of Death.”
Associated Press v. Department of Defense, 410 F. Supp. 2d 147 (S.D.N.Y. 2006). LSKS represented The Associated Press in its action under the Freedom of Information Act to obtain the names of and other information about the Guantanamo Bay detainees. The court ordered the information to be released, rejecting the government’s claim that the detainees had a strong interest in keeping it private.
Associated Press v. Department of Defense, 04-Civ-4872 (HB) (S.D.N.Y. 2004). LSKS represented The Associated Press in its action under the Freedom of Information Act to compel disclosure of President George W. Bush’s full record of service in the Texas National Guard. The court ordered the Department of Defense to provide the documents.
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Mid-Atlantic
United States v. Microsoft Corp., 165 F.3d 952 (D.C. Cir. 1999). LSKS represented The New York Times and other news organizations that sought to attend pretrial depositions in this watershed civil antitrust case. The District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the trial court’s order requiring that the public and press be admitted to the depositions.
United States v. Libby, No. 07-mc-0052 (D.D.C. Feb. 5, 2007). During the criminal trial of Vice President Dick Cheney’s former chief of staff, LSKS successfully represented a coalition of news organizations and media industry groups in seeking contemporaneous access to audiotapes of the defendant’s grand jury testimony that were played in open court. The trial judge ordered that the tapes be released to the press as soon as they had been played to the jury.
The Baltimore Sun Co. v. United States Department of State, No. 02-876 (D.D.C. 2002). LSKS represented the Baltimore Sun in its motion for access to a State Department hearing on the revocation of an alien worker’s visa. The court granted the motion.
B.K. Miller Co. v. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., No. PJM-97-592 (D. Md. 1998). LSKS represented The New York Times in its motion to intervene and unseal documents and pleadings filed in an antitrust lawsuit between a Coca-Cola bottler and a beverage vendor. The court granted the motion.
Kirwan v. The Diamondback, 721 A.2d 196 (Md. 1998). LSKS represented the University of Maryland’s student newspaper in its action under the state Public Information Act to compel disclosure of records of campus parking tickets issued to members of the men’s basketball team and their coach. The Maryland Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling that ordered the University to disclose the records.
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South
Bush v. Palm Beach County Canvassing Board, No. 00-836 (U.S. 2000). LSKS represented ABC, CBS, NBC, and Court TV in their request that the United States Supreme Court televise the oral arguments in the case that resolved the 2000 presidential election. The Court subsequently made the then-unprecedented decision to provide an audio feed of the broadcast for public dissemination immediately after these historic arguments.
In re Associated Press, 34 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1449 (4th Cir. 2006); United States v. Moussaoui, 31 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1705 (4th Cir. 2003). During pretrial proceedings in the first September 11-related criminal prosecution, LSKS represented a coalition of media organizations that sought access to portions of the record and the oral argument in an appeal by the government. Reversing its original position, the Fourth Circuit unsealed portions of the record, opened part of the oral argument, and agreed to release a redacted transcript of the remainder of the oral argument. When the district court later denied the press and public access to all trial exhibits, LSKS represented another coalition of media organizations on a petition for writ of mandamus. The Fourth Circuit ordered the district court to make copies of paper and videotape exhibits that had been admitted and published to the jury available to the public not later than the next morning.
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West
United States v. McVeigh, 119 F.3d 806 (10th Cir. 1997). LSKS attorneys represented a consortium of national news media in challenging the sealing of certain court records in the Oklahoma City bombing case.
Denver Post Corp. v. United States, Army Misc. 20041215 (Army Ct. Crim. App. 2005). LSKS attorneys represented a daily newspaper in successfully challenging the closure of an Article 32 court martial proceeding of an Army officer charged with murder for killing an Iraqi Major General in the course of interrogating him.
Freedom Communications, Inc. v. FDIC, 1994 WL 499586 (C.D. Cal. 1994). LSKS attorneys represented the Orange County Register in an action under the federal Freedom of Information Act that resulted in the disclosure of documents by the FDIC regarding the activities of the Resolution Trust Corporation.
NBC Subsidiary (KNBC-TV), Inc. v. Superior Court, 980 P.2d 337 (Cal. 1999). LSKS represented a coalition of publishers, broadcasters and professional organizations as amicus curiae in a case in which the California Supreme Court held there is a constitutional right of access to civil trials – in that case, the trial of a palimony-type action against Clint Eastwood.
American Friends Service Committee v. City & County of Denver, 32 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2045 (D. Colo. 2004). LSKS attorneys represented a newspaper in obtaining permission to intervene to challenge a broad protective order entered in a civil rights case challenging a Police Department’s maintenance of “spy files,” and in obtaining the unsealing of numerous documents in the case.
Exum v. United States Olympic Committee, 30 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2197, 209 F.R.D. 201 (D. Colo. 2002). LSKS attorneys represented a consortium of national news media in successfully intervening in an employment discrimination case brought by the former head of the Anti-Doping Agency of the U.S. Olympic Committee, and successfully fought an effort to seal the athletes’ performance-enhancing drug test results.
In re People v. Thompson, --- P.3d ----, 2008 WL 920348 (Colo. 2008). With representation by LSKS, the Associated Press and The Denver Post prevailed in their effort to unseal the indictment of a Colorado man charged in connection with the disappearance of his six-year-old daughter. The news organizations challenged a ruling by the Arapahoe County District Court that would have kept secret the contents of the 60-count charging document. The Colorado Supreme Court ruled that the indictment is a “record of official action” and thus must be made public under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.
Harris v. Denver Post Corp., 123 P.3d 1166 (Colo. 2005). LSKS attorneys represented a daily newspaper in obtaining access to the journals of Columbine killers Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, which were seized and reviewed by the Jefferson County Sheriff in investigating the school shooting tragedy.
Denver Post Corp. v. Stapleton Development Corp., 19 P.3d 36 (Colo. Ct. App. 2000). LSKS attorneys represented a newspaper in obtaining a landmark judicial declaration that a “quasi-private” non-profit corporation formed by the City of Denver to redevelop the former city airport site was a public agency whose records were subject to public inspection under Colorado’s Open Records Act.
Freedom Newspapers, Inc. v. Tollefson, 961 P.2d 1150 (Colo. Ct. App. 1998). LSKS attorneys successfully represented a newspaper in obtaining access to employee severance agreements including names and amounts of severance packages.
Zubeck v. El Paso County Retirement Plan, 961 P.2d 597 (Colo. Ct. App. 1998). LSKS attorneys represented a newspaper and its investigative reporter in obtaining access to a county retirement plan’s investment records.
Freedom Newspapers, Inc. v. Bowerman, 739 P.2d 881 (Colo. Ct. App. 1987). LSKS attorneys successfully represented a daily newspaper in gaining access to a coroner’s autopsy reports under Colorado’s Open Records Act.
People v. Cisneros, No. 07-CR-118 (Colo. Cty. Ct., Routt Cty. 2007). LSKS successfully represented a daily newspaper, in opposition to both the prosecution and defense, in gaining access to all of the records filed in a first degree murder prosecution and in obtaining an order denying a motion to close the trial.
Meyer v. ABC, 25 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1605 (Colo. Dist. Ct., Boulder Cty. 1997). On behalf of a coalition of news organizations, LSKS attorneys obtained judicial orders unsealing the autopsy report of murder victim JonBenét Ramsey.
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