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Northeast
Fox Television Stations, Inc. v. FCC, 489 F.3d 444 (2d Cir. 2007). LSKS served as co-counsel for CBS Broadcasting Inc. in its successful challenge, along with other broadcasters, to the Federal Communications Commission’s policy of prohibiting as “indecent” and “profane” the broadcast of fleeting expletives between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m.
United States v. Corbin, No. 09 MJ 0444 (E.D.N.Y. June 1, 2009). LSKS successfully challenged a motion brought by a Nassau County legislator seeking to enjoin Newsday and News 12 Long Island from publishing photographs or video footage showing him being led to court in handcuffs during a “perp walk” conducted by federal agents. After expedited briefing and argument, United States District Judge Arthur D. Spatt concluded that the requested injunction would constitute an unconstitutional prior restraint, and that many alternatives existed to secure the defendant’s right to a fair trial without restricting press coverage.
Gee v. 318 Chinese Union, No. 05 Civ. 969 (AKH) (S.D.N.Y. 2005) and No. 604177/04 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2004). LSKS successfully opposed multiple motions for temporary and preliminary injunctions brought by various businesses against the Chinese Staff & Workers Association and other organizations seeking to enjoin CSWA’s street demonstrations protesting working conditions in New York’s Chinatown. In addition, LSKS obtained a summary judgment dismissing all of the claims asserted against CSWA, including claims for defamation, interference with business relations, RICO, and unfair labor practices.
National Mobilization Against Sweatshops v. Couch, No. 02-CV-1371 (TJM) (RFT) (N.D.N.Y. 2003). LSKS successfully represented National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, the Chinese Staff & Workers Association and other advocacy organizations in their lawsuit against Albany police and other government officials who denied a permit for a demonstration in front of the Governor’s Mansion. Under the terms of a settlement, the organizations not only obtained the permit but also a monetary payment and an agreement by the city to rewrite its parade-permit regulations to include speech-protective provisions submitted by the plaintiffs.
Ernst & Young v. Bowman’s Accounting Report, No. 426/90 (N.Y. App. Div. 1990). LSKS attorneys intervened in an action on behalf of several New York newspapers, including The New York Times, in an effort to vacate a trial court’s order prohibiting a small Georgia-based newsletter from publishing a story about the merger of two major accounting firms. The appellate court dissolved the restraining order less than an hour after an emergency hearing.
Nicholson v. Keyspan Corp., 14 Misc.3d 1236 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2007). LSKS successfully represented Newsdayand News 12 in opposing a prior restraint sought in connection with a case in which plaintiffs alleged they suffered exposure to contaminants emanating from a gas plant formerly owned by defendants. The court denied the defendants’ attempt to restrict the news organizations from publishing information about documents that were already in their possession, concluding that because the news organizations did not obtain the material improperly, any prior restraint would be unconstitutional.
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Mid-Atlantic
Rossignol v. Voorhaar, 316 F.3d 516 (4th Cir. 2003). LSKS represented a newspaper publisher in a civil rights action against a sheriff and his deputies who removed virtually an entire edition of the newspaper from circulation by purchasing most of the copies available for sale. The Fourth Circuit reversed the trial court’s order granting summary judgment for the defendants, holding that the mass purchase by the officers, even though carried out while they were off duty and out of uniform, was unconstitutional state action designed to suppress the publisher’s viewpoint and retaliate against him for prior articles critical of the officers. The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the publisher thereafter and the defendants paid the publisher $435,000 in settlement of the action.
Rice v. Paladin Enterprises, Inc., 128 F.3d 233 (4th Cir. 1997). LSKS defended the publisher of a “hit man manual” in a wrongful death action arising out of a triple murder. After the trial court granted a motion for summary judgment for the publisher on the ground that the First Amendment constituted an absolute defense to liability, the Fourth Circuit reversed. The parties settled on the eve of trial.
Foretich v. Lifetime Cable, 17 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1648 (D.C. Cir. 1990). LSKS attorneys represented the BBC and Lifetime Television in challenging a judicial order that restrained them from broadcasting portions of a documentary about alleged child sexual abuse. The District of Columbia Circuit vacated the order fifteen minutes before the scheduled broadcast.
HBE Corp. v. NAACP, 29 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2249 (D. Md. 2001). LSKS successfully opposed a motion brought by the owner of the Adams Mark hotel chain against the NAACP, Kweisi Mfume and Julian Bond for a preliminary injunction to end the NAACP’s nationwide boycott of the chain for its alleged engagement in racial discrimination. When the court denied the motion, the company voluntarily dismissed its defamation action premised on the boycott.
Miller v. ABC, Inc., No. 003913 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. 2009). LSKS defeated an emergency motion seeking to enjoin an evening news reporting on women’s complaints that a website improperly posted compromising photos and videos of them. After hearing argument from LSKS attorneys, the judge advised plaintiff’s counsel that the motion would be denied. Plaintiff’s counsel withdrew the motion, and the report was broadcast as scheduled.
CM v. Cox, Jan. Term 2005, No. 2111 (Pa. Ct. Com. Pl. 2007). LSKS successfully fought off a threatened judicial prior restraint on a news report about a malpractice lawsuit broadcast by ABC’s Philadelphia station.
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South
Multimedia Holdings Corp. v. Circuit Court of Florida, 544 U.S. 1301 (2005) (Kennedy, J., Circuit Justice). LSKS represented a coalition of media organizations as amicus curiae in support of an application to stay a prior restraint issued by a Florida trial judge. In an opinion denying the application on factual grounds, Circuit Justice Kennedy acknowledged that informal procedures intended to chill speech, including an earlier order issued by the trial court in that case, may constitute prior restraints in violation of the First Amendment.
Charter Behavioral Health Systems, LLC v. CBS Broadcasting Inc., No. 99 CV 150 MU (W.D.N.C. 1999). LSKS successfully opposed a motion by the nation’s largest chain of private psychiatric hospitals to enjoin broadcast of an investigative report prepared by 60 Minutes II that included hidden camera footage obtained inside one of the hospitals. When the court denied the motion, the hospital chain voluntarily dismissed its action for damages against CBS.
Religious Technology Center v. Lerma, 908 F. Supp. 1353 (E.D. Va. 1995). LSKS attorneys represented an individual accused of unlawfully posting copyrighted material containing trade secrets on the Internet. Finding online publishers subject to the same First Amendment protections as publishers of newspapers, the court denied a motion for a temporary restraining order to prohibit the posting and ordered that the defendant’s computer, which had been seized by federal marshals, be returned to him.
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Midwest
Interactive Digital Software Association v. St. Louis County., Mo., 329 F.3d 954 (8th Cir. 2003). LSKS attorneys authored an amicus brief on behalf of the International Game Developers Association in support of a successful First Amendment challenge to a city ordinance that criminalized the sale or distribution to minors of certain violent or sexually explicit video games.
Commodity Trend Service, Inc. v. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, 149 F.3d 679 (7th Cir. 1998). LSKS attorneys argued on behalf of the Newsletter Publishers Association (now known as the Specialized Information Publishers Association) and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press as amicus curiae that a requirement that a publisher of impersonal investment advice register as a “commodity trading advisor” functioned as a speech license in violation of the First Amendment.
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West
Associated Press v. District Court for the Fifth Judicial District of Colorado, 542 U.S. 1301 (2004) (Breyer, J., Circuit Justice). On behalf of The Associated Press, CBS, the Los Angeles Times, ESPN, and others, LSKS sought United States Supreme Court review of a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that upheld an order prohibiting the press from publishing pretrial hearing transcripts in NBA star Kobe Bryant’s criminal proceedings. Following an emergency opinion by Circuit Justice Breyer expressly recognizing the important constitutional interests at stake, the trial judge vacated his order with respect to the lion’s share of the materials at issue.
Freedom Communications, Inc. v. Superior Court (In re Gonzalez v. Freedom Communications, Inc.), __ Cal. Rptr. 3d __, 2008 WL 4381640 (Cal. Ct. App. Sept. 29, 2008). LSKS represented 27 news media amici in support of a petition to strike down a prior-restraint order barring The Orange County Register from publishing any stories concerning witness testimony or evidence during the trial of a class action case against the newspaper. The California Court of Appeal struck down the trial court’s order as unconstitutional.
Tattered Cover, Inc., v. City of Thornton, 44 P.3d 1044 (Colo. 2002). LSKS attorneys prepared an amicus brief on behalf of several public interest groups in support of a small independent bookstore that successfully fought against execution of a search warrant seeking records of customer purchases.
Zinna v. Congrove, No. 05-CV-1016 (D. Colo. Dec. 9, 2009). LSKS served as trial counsel in a two-week jury trial on behalf of the plaintiff, Michael L. Zinna, a former radio talk-show host and internet investigative journalist, who brought a claim for First Amendment retaliation, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, against the former chairman of the Jefferson County Board of County Commissioners. The jury ruled in favor of the plaintiff, finding that the defendant had engaged in a pattern of retaliatory conduct under color of state law. Because the jury was not permitted to award economic damages, it instead awarded $1,791 in damages, based on the year that the First Amendment was adopted by the states as part of the Bill of Rights: 1791. An application for attorney’s fees and costs under 42 U.S.C. § 1988(b) is pending before the court.
Johnson v. Colorado Board of Architectural Examiners, No. 2005-cv-6546 (Colo. Dist. Ct. 2006). LSKS attorneys successfully represented a candidate for public office (a non-licensed architect) in a federal civil rights action challenging the constitutionality of a state statute that was applied to prohibit the candidate from describing himself as “an architect” in political speeches. The trial court ruled that the statute, as applied, abridged the candidate’s constitutional right to freedom of speech, and awarded the candidate his attorneys’ fees for successfully challenging the statute.
Sports Management News, Inc. v. Nachtigal,921 P.2d 1304 (Ore. 1996). LSKS attorneys represented a newsletter publisher that had been restrained from publishing information alleged by Adidas, the athletic shoe manufacturer, to be a trade secret. The Oregon Supreme Court struck down as unconstitutional the state law provision, modeled on the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, that purported to authorize the judge to issue such a prior restraint.
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