lawyerlee
07-19-2005, 06:29 PM
In light of the situation with Judy Miller, Karl Rove, etc., I thought this decision was especially noteworthy.
This is the e-mail I received from my ABA Communications Law listserv:
The Eleventh Circuit today upheld its prior recognition of a
First Amendment privilege to protect confidential sources and
rigorously applied the classic three-part test in a public
figure libel case, finding that the plaintiff had not exhausted
his alternative sources. The panel left open the possibility
that he might be able to exhaust alternative sources on remand,
holding the First Amendment "requires 'reasonable efforts' at
alternative means of discovery, not every effort and not efforts
for which there is a high probability of futility. In this area
it is reasonable to require that a party beat the bushes, but it
is not reasonable to require him to pull up every tree, bush,
and blade of grass by the roots." The opinion is attached. No
mention is made of Judy Miller, Matt Cooper, Wen Ho Lee, or Karl
Rove. Scott Smith of Bradley, Arant Rose & White represented
Time, Inc. in the case. Laura Handman of Davis Wright Tremaine
filed an amicus brief for ABC, Inc.
If you're interested, you can download the entire opinion on FindLaw here:
Price v. Time, Inc. (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=11th&no=04-13027)
This is the e-mail I received from my ABA Communications Law listserv:
The Eleventh Circuit today upheld its prior recognition of a
First Amendment privilege to protect confidential sources and
rigorously applied the classic three-part test in a public
figure libel case, finding that the plaintiff had not exhausted
his alternative sources. The panel left open the possibility
that he might be able to exhaust alternative sources on remand,
holding the First Amendment "requires 'reasonable efforts' at
alternative means of discovery, not every effort and not efforts
for which there is a high probability of futility. In this area
it is reasonable to require that a party beat the bushes, but it
is not reasonable to require him to pull up every tree, bush,
and blade of grass by the roots." The opinion is attached. No
mention is made of Judy Miller, Matt Cooper, Wen Ho Lee, or Karl
Rove. Scott Smith of Bradley, Arant Rose & White represented
Time, Inc. in the case. Laura Handman of Davis Wright Tremaine
filed an amicus brief for ABC, Inc.
If you're interested, you can download the entire opinion on FindLaw here:
Price v. Time, Inc. (http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?navby=case&court=11th&no=04-13027)