Other
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Atlas Underwriters v. State Corporation Commission
The Virginia Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) does not apply to the State Corporation Commission.
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Lee v. Ilbo (4th Circuit on libel)
A South Korean government agency issued a report that identified Lee, a U.S. resident alien, as a North Korean spy. Several newspapers and a television station reported the story. Lee sued the media groups for libel, and the trial court granted their motions for summary judgment. On appeal, the Court held that defendants were not…
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Shenandoah Publishing House v. Fanning
Shenandoah Publishing House Inc. v. Fanning, 368 S.E.2d 253, 235 Va. 253 (4/22/1988) Virginia Supreme Court SHENANDOAH PUBLISHING HOUSE, INC. v. VIRGINIA K. FANNING, EXECUTRIX, ETC., ET AL. Appeal from a judgment of the Circuit Court of the City of Winchester. Hon. Henry H. Whiting, judge presiding. James L. Berry for appellant. Phillip C. Stone…
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Shenandoah Publishing House Inc. v. Fanning (Va. Supreme Court on access to courts)
A publisher intervened to challenge a Winchester Circuit Court decision which entered several protective orders in a wrongful death action. Among the records sealed were those concerning a compromise settlement between the estate of the deceased and the defendant corporations. The Court held that the trial court had struck the wrong balance between the interests…
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U.S. v. Morison (4th Cir. on confidential sources)
Morison was an analyst for the Naval Intelligence Support Center and a part-time employee of a British publication concerning military armaments. He obtained secret Naval satellite photographs of Soviet nuclear-powered vessels and sent the photographs to both the British publisher and the Washington Post, which published them. After the Navy discovered that Morison had stolen…
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Falwell v. Flynt (4th Cir. on libel)
Falwell brought suit against Larry Flynt and his magazine for libel, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress after Hustler published a parody of the preacher having a drunken rendezvous with his own mother. (1) The district court dismissed the claim for invasion of privacy because the use of plaintiff’s name and likeness…
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The Gazette Inc. v. Harris (Virginia Supreme Court on libel)
In consolidated cases, several citizens sued newspapers for publishing defamatory articles about them. In each action, the trial court had applied a negligence standard, and the Court took the opportunity to clarify the standard of liability that should govern an award of compensatory damages to a private individual in a libel action. (1) A preponderance…
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Richmond Newspapers Inc. v. Commonwealth (Va. Supreme Court on access to courts)
In consolidated cases, several newspapers challenged trial court orders that closed to the public pretrial suppression hearings in three criminal prosecutions. The trial courts had overruled all objections by the newspapers. The Court reversed and vacated the trial court orders. It is unconstitutional to close pretrial hearings without an ‘overriding interest articulated in findings,’ and…
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Fleming v. Moore (Virginia Supreme Court on libel)
A broker wanted to build a low-income residential development on land neighboring Moore, a U.Va. professor who opposed the development. The broker’s application for rezoning was denied. Consequently, he published paid advertisements in The Cavalier Daily (U.Va.’s newspaper) saying Moore did “not want any black people within his sight.” Moore brought a libel action alleging…
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Landmark Communications Inc. v. Commonwealth
The Va. Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law punishing anyone who divulged information about the proceedings of the Virginia Judicial Inquiry and Review Commission. The defendant newspaper, after identifying a judge whose conduct was being investigated by the Commission, was convicted and fined for violating the law. The Court said the law was constitutional because…
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Charlottesville Newspapers Inc. v. Berry
Charlottesville Newspapers Inc. v. Berry, 206 S.E.2d 267, 215 Va. 116 (6/19/1974) Virginia Supreme Court CHARLOTTESVILLE NEWSPAPERS, INC., DOUGLAS PARDUE, AND BENJAMIN F. CRITZER v. DAVID F. BERRY, JUDGE OF THE CIRCUIT COURT OF ALBEMARLE COUNTY Upon a Petition for a Writ of Prohibition and Mandamus. John C. Lowe (Edward L. Hogshire; Lowe & Gordon,…
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Brown v. Commonwealth
Brown was convicted of a murder in an auto parts junkyard. A newspaper article published on the day after the killing quoted a “spokesman” for the sheriff’s department who gave a different version of the facts than the prosecution later presented in court. Brown wanted to make the reporter give up the identity of that…
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Sanders v. Harris (Virginia Supreme Court on libel)
Sanders, a professor at Virginia Western Community College, sued after a newspaper wrongly reported that she improperly withheld documents from her department head. Her employment contract with the university was not renewed after the article appeared, and she was unable to obtain another position with a university. The Court affirmed a circuit court’s ruling in…
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House v. Commonwealth
The Court reversed and dismissed an indictment for a gentleman who sold the “girlie” magazines KNIGHT and RAW. They were not proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be obscene and beyond the area of constitutionally protected expressions, the Court ruled. Determination of whether a particular work of expression is obscene is not merely a factual…
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Bigelow v. Commonwealth
Bigelow was tried, convicted, and fined for publishing an advertisement in the Virginia Weekly, a Charlottesville newspaper, that advertised abortion services in New York. The Court ruled that the statute, which forbid “encouraging or prompting” abortions in any way, was constitutional. The ruling distinguished the lawful regulation of advertisements from the unlawful abridgement of free…