Media & Communications Law

Insurer Fights Judge’s Claim

An insurance company is seeking a declaratory judgment that it owes no more than $3.4 million already paid to a Massachusetts judge who won a successful defamation judgment against the Boston Herald. Judge Ernest B. Murphy wrote Mutual Insurance Co. Ltd. on July 17, claiming he should be paid an…

Aug 23, 2007 11:55 AM CDT

Bonds Swings at Steroid Statements

Slugger Barry Bonds has hired new lawyers to review public statements made about him, with an eye toward possible defamation lawsuits. Bonds recently hired Oakland, Calif., lawyer John Burris, who often represents people in suits against police, and San Francisco lawyer Todd Schneider, whose firm represents plaintiffs in discrimination and…

Aug 22, 2007 11:02 AM CDT

Public Access ‘Robin Hood’ Wants Case Law Free

Public information crusader Carl Malamud is the latest of a growing number of individuals who are looking for a way to make court decisions more accessible to the general public. At his site, public.resource.org, Malamud plans to post case law previously only available in law libraries or through subscription services…

Aug 20, 2007 2:36 PM CDT

Court Criticizes, Lawyer Has No Remedy

An attorney whose conduct is criticized in a court ruling may have no right to intervene or sue to clear his name, at least in the Federal Circuit. That’s the gist of a recent appellate decision, which resulted from an attorney’s complaint that a federal judge had criticized him in…

Aug 18, 2007 12:27 AM CDT

FBI Director’s Notes Enhance Testimony

Notes turned over to the House Judiciary Committee by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III reportedly describe former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft as “barely articulate,” “feeble” and “clearly stressed” during a now-infamous March 2004 encounter with top White House aides. Nonetheless, the aides, including then-White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales…

Aug 16, 2007 11:49 PM CDT

Online Journalists Sue H-P

Internet-based reporters caught up in the Hewlett-Packard pretexting scandal have filed suit against the computer maker claiming invasion of privacy. One Associated Press reporter and three CNet.com reporters, all of whose phone records were scrutinized by HP investigators, filed suit in state court in San Francisco on Wednesday, reports the…

Aug 16, 2007 4:53 PM CDT

Paris Hilton & Mel Gibson Protection Act?

A bill being considered in the California legislature attempts to regulate checkbook journalism and private investigators who pay for confidential information. The legislation, AB 920, would make it a misdemeanor for law enforcement personnel and court employees to profit by releasing confidential information or permitting photographs of a person in…

Aug 16, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Secret-Case Strategy: Guess US Argument

In 27 years of practice, Jon Eisenberg has never had a more difficult case than Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation v. George W. Bush. One reason why is the extraordinary secrecy imposed on the litigation process because of terrorism-related national security concerns. When it came time to file one brief in his…

Aug 15, 2007 3:12 PM CDT

Rutgers Player Accuses Imus of Libel

A Rutgers women’s basketball player has filed suit against radio personality Don Imus, accusing him of libel, slander and defamation for comments he made on air about the team in April. The comments cost Imus his job at CBS and resulted in a contract settlement that was reported this week.…

Aug 15, 2007 3:03 PM CDT

OJ Simpson Book to be Published

A book by O.J. Simpson that reportedly contains a hypothetical account of how he might have murdered his former wife, Nicole, if he had actually done so, will soon be in bookstores nationwide after all. Withdrawn from publication last year, following a firestorm of criticism, it has been accepted anew…

Aug 13, 2007 8:18 PM CDT

Records Proposal Pulled After Protests

A controversial proposal to limit access to criminal records to make it easier for convicts to find jobs and housing is being withdrawn by the entities that intended to bring it before the ABA’s policymaking body next week. ABA’s Commission on Effective Judicial Sanctions and the Criminal Justice Section were…

Aug 11, 2007 10:57 PM CDT

Anna Nicole Breast Surgery Video Banned

A Southern California judge has issued a temporary restraining order preventing a Texas plastic surgeon from selling, distributing or disseminating a 1994 videotape of breast augmentation surgery he performed on Anna Nicole Smith. The former stripper and Playboy playmate of the Year, perhaps best-known for her marriage to a Houston…

Aug 9, 2007 4:24 PM CDT

Google Maps Make Life Less Private

It isn’t illegal. But an ambitious Google Inc. project to map metropolitan areas throughout the country is reducing the limited amount of privacy that used to apply, as a practical matter, on public streets. “The law allows you to take a picture of anything you can see as long as…

Aug 7, 2007 6:50 PM CDT

Agent’s CIA Years Top Secret

It’s well known that Valerie Wilson worked for the CIA; the information was published in a newspaper column and led to a high-level prosecution. And her length of service was published in the Congressional Record. But Wilson’s length of service is classified information, as is a court filing explaining why…

Aug 3, 2007 1:06 PM CDT

Murdoch Can Thank Lawyers for WSJ Deal

The cost of outside advisers–including some of the biggest names in law–may have persuaded reluctant members of the Bancroft family to approve the sale of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal to Rupert Murdoch, CNBC is reporting. Fees to legal and financial advisers could amount to at least $30…

Jul 31, 2007 5:57 PM CDT