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Northeast
Diaz v. Univision, No. L-185699 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2001). LSKS attorneys represented a New Jersey television station and its reporter against claims of trespass, intrusion, deceit and constitutional privacy torts based on the actions of a camera crew that followed Hudson County police officers into private homes to record the arrests of “dead beat dads” – men whose children were on welfare because their fathers failed to pay child support. Defendants won dismissal of the lion’s share of the plaintiff’s claims and obtained a significant ruling that emotional distress and other damages flowing from the broadcast of the resulting news report could not be recovered on a claim for trespass.
Ayeni v. CBS,848 F. Supp. 362 (E.D.N.Y. 1994). LSKS lawyers represented a reporter and camera crew working for the CBS newsmagazine “Street Stories” in one of the first lawsuits alleging constitutional claims against reporters for accompanying law enforcement officials on a “ride along.” In this case, reporters working on a story about credit card fraud followed federal agents as they executed a search warrant in a private apartment in Brooklyn.
Trell v. AAAS, 806 N.Y.S.2d 892 (N.Y. App. Div. 2005). LSKS represented Science Magazine and its publisher the American Association for the Advancement of Science in a case asserting claims for breach of contract, fraud, misappropriation and trade secret infringement based on a scientist’s submission of a purported scientific proof to the magazine. The trial court dismissed the case and the appeals court affirmed.
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Mid-Atlantic
Bartnicki v. Vopper, 532 U.S. 514 (2001). LSKS represented the media defendants before the United States Supreme Court in a case arising out of the radio broadcast of a tape recording of a cell phone conversation between two teachers’ union officials who appeared to be advocating the use of violent tactics in a labor dispute. The Court, in upholding the dismissal of the plaintiffs’ claims brought under the federal wiretapping act, reaffirmed the principle that the news media cannot be held liable in damages for the publication of truthful information about a matter of public concern absent a governmental interest of the highest order, at least where it played no role in the source’s unlawful acquisition of the information.
Wilson v. Layne, 526 U.S. 603 (1999). LSKS represented more than 25 news organizations who urged the United States Supreme Court as amicus curiae to hold that the practice of government agents permitting reporters to accompany them during the execution of search warrants did not constitute a per se violation of the Fourth Amendment rights of the person whose premises were being searched.
Robinson v. City of Philadelphia, 2003 WL 21834880 (3d Cir. 2003), aff’g 2001 WL 1813758 (E.D. Pa. 2001). LSKS attorneys represented ABC in a suit asserting federal and state law claims for invasion of privacy arising out of a Philadelphia television station reporter’s “ride along” with local police. The Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment for ABC.
March Funeral Homes West, Inc. v. WJZ-TV Channel 13, No. 02424 (Md. Ct. Spec. App. 2003). LSKS successfully defended CBS’s Baltimore television station against defamation, invasion of privacy and related claims arising from a news report about the funeral and burial of a Vietnam veteran. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s dismissal of all but one of the plaintiff’s claims.
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South
Pitts Sales, Inc. v. King World Productions, Inc., 383 F. Supp. 2d 1354 (S.D. Fla. 2005). LSKS successfully defended King World’s newsmagazine Inside Edition in an action arising out of an undercover investigation of traveling door-to-door magazine sales companies. The court entered judgment in favor of King World on claims for violation of the federal wiretap statute, trespass and fraud.
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Midwest
Anderson v. Suiters, 499 F.3d 1228 (10th Cir. 2007), aff’g 2006 WL 314447 (W.D. Okla. 2005) and 2005 WL 2716302 (W.D. Okla. 2005). LSKS won dismissal of intrusion and constitutional invasion of privacy claims brought after a police officer allowed a television reporter to copy portions of the videotape of a rape that had been provided to police to prosecute the crime. LSKS also won summary judgment on a publication of private facts claim based on the television station’s subsequent broadcast of excerpts from the tape in its news report. The Tenth Circuit affirmed.
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West
Showler v. Harper’s Magazine Foundation, 2007 WL 867188 (10th Cir. 2007). LSKS attorneys represented several news organizations as amici curiae in support of a photojournalist and magazine in a case alleging an invasion of privacy caused by a photograph of an open casket funeral of a National Guardsman killed in Iraq.
Quigley v. Rosenthal, 327 F.3d 1044 (10th Cir. 2003). LSKS attorneys represented the Anti-Defamation League and its regional director in their appeal of a trial court judgment for libel and wiretap violations, resulting in dismissal of claims for invasion of privacy.
Four Navy SEALs v. Associated Press, 413 F. Supp. 2d 1136 (S.D. Cal. 2005). LSKS successfully defended The Associated Press and its reporter against invasion of privacy and copyright infringement claims arising from the publication of photographs depicting Navy SEALs detaining Iraqi prisoners, which were disseminated with a news report about a Navy investigation into the existence of the photos and the conduct they depicted.
Taus v. Loftus, 40 Cal. 4th 683 (Cal. 2007). LSKS attorneys filed an amicus brief on behalf of a coalition of 21 media organizations in the California Supreme Court. LSKS’s brief argued that the subject of a scientific article about the recovery of repressed memories, which identified her only as Jane Doe, should not be able to assert claims for defamation and invasion of privacy against the author of subsequent articles that challenged the initial article’s assertions, and explained that the rule urged by the plaintiff would chill the use of reporting techniques routinely used by the media. To read a copy of the brief, please visit our online Library.
Sanders v. American Broadcasting Co., 978 P.2d 67 (Cal. 1999). LSKS represented a media coalition as amici curiae in arguing that imposing privacy-intrusion liability for a hidden camera investigation that resulted in newsworthy and accurate reports about the “tele-psychic” industry would chill the ability of news organizations to investigate and report matters of significant concern in the American workplace.
Shulman v. Group W Productions, Inc., 955 P.2d 469 (Cal. 1998). LSKS represented a coalition of news organizations as amici curiae in arguing that reporting on emergency response services of legitimate public interest did not violate privacy interests and should be protected by the First Amendment.
Robinson v. City & County of Denver, 39 F. Supp. 2d 1257 (D. Colo. 1999). LSKS attorneys represented television news reporters in defense of claims premised on police-arranged media taping of an arrest.
Cramlet v. Multimedia Program Productions Inc., 11 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1707 (D. Colo. 1985). LSKS attorneys defended talk-show host Phil Donahue against claims of conspiracy and intentional infliction of emotional distress premised on a broadcast in which a father who had abducted his son in a custody dispute refused to divulge the boy’s location.
Denver Publishing Co. v. Bueno, 54 P.3d 893 (Colo. 2002). LSKS attorneys authored an amicus brief on behalf of the Colorado Press Association successfully urging the Colorado Supreme Court to reject the tort of false light invasion of privacy.
People v. Lewis, No. 99-CR-3053 (Colo. Dist. Ct., Jefferson Cty. 1999). LSKS attorneys represented a national tabloid magazine in defense of criminal charges filed against one of its editors for commercial bribery and extortion for allegedly offering cash to obtain a copy of the “ransom note” found at the home of JonBenét Ramsey.
Jensen v. Sawyers, 130 P.3d 325 (Utah 2005). LSKS attorneys represented a television station on appeal in successfully vacating the bulk of a jury verdict awarded to a doctor captured on a hidden camera prescribing Fen-Phen weight loss pills.
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