Judge Lifts Restraining Order, Averting First Amendment Showdown with NLJ
A Washington, D.C., judge has lifted her own restraining order that had barred the National Law Journal from reporting that the Federal Trade Commission is investigating pomegranate juice maker POM Wonderful.
The Washington Post says the about-face by Superior Court Judge Judith Bartnoff ended “a dispute that legal observers said was destined to become one of the biggest First Amendment cases in years.”
The NLJ had learned about the investigation through publicly available court records that hadn’t been sealed, despite a prior order by Bartnoff. POM had sought the restraining order, but it retreated Friday, according to The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times, the Post and the Wall Street Journal Law Blog.
A group of media organizations had filed an amicus brief (PDF) supporting a National Law Journal appeal in the case, according to Law Blog and a prior story by The BLT. Bartnoff lifted the order late Friday afternoon, only hours after the brief was filed.
A National Law Journal reporter had unearthed details of the case while researching a story about a Hogan Lovells’ lawsuit against POM Wonderful seeking $666,000 for past-due legal bills for work on the FTC matter. POM Wonderful claims the fees were “exorbitant” and the firm provided “unnecessary and substandard legal services.”
A Washington Post editorial said Bartnoff’s restraining order “was way out of bounds and should not be replicated. The Supreme Court has ruled that media outlets cannot be barred from publishing truthful information that was obtained legally unless the material could endanger national security. … There were never such concerns in the POM case.”
