Oregon

The Oregon Supreme Court ruled that the Boy Scouts of America cannot prevent the release of court documents introduced in a child sexual abuse jury trial that resulted in a $19.4 million verdict against the organization.

A federal judge denied a motion for retrial in the case of a self-described investigative blogger, ruling that private figure plaintiffs do not have to establish “negligence” or “actual malice” to hold a non-media defendant liable in a defamation suit arising out of speech not on a matter of public concern.

A Montana blogger has been ordered to pay $2.5 million in defamation damages after a federal judge said she would have to be working for a mainstream media organization in order to qualify for protections afforded journalists.

The judgment against Crystal Cox, a self-proclaimed investigative blogger, arose from an allegedly defamatory statement about Obsidian Finance Group, LLC, and its senior principal, Kevin D. Padrick. The statement was posted on Cox's website bankruptcycorruption.com.

An Oregon blogger’s disparaging “almost stream of consciousness-like” statements about the trustee in a bankruptcy case are protected opinion under the First Amendment, a federal judge in Portland recently ruled.

The opinion in Obsidian Finance Group v. Cox highlights the importance of courts’ consideration of the “looser, more relaxed communication style” of the Internet in their evaluations of allegedly defamatory online communications.

The U.S. Court of Appeals sitting in Portland, Oregon, (9th Cir.) struck down two laws Monday that would have prohibited making sexually explicit material accessible to minors, ruling they were overbroad and infringed on First Amendment rights.

An Oregon sheriff is pushing concealed handgun license holders by the thousands to fight what he suspects could be an appellate decision saying their names and other information are public.

In 1973, Oregon’s open meeting law codified what may be a unique arrangement between reporters and government bodies -- news media representatives were allowed into executive sessions so long as they didn’t report on what happened there.

In most states, executive sessions of any governing body are closed to everyone. Boards and councils use the meetings to discuss real estate transactions, employee discipline, ongoing litigation and a variety of similar things allowed under state open meetings laws.

An Oregon newspaper does not have to give up the identity of someone who commented anonymously on its website, a judge held this week, because the state shield law protects anonymous bloggers just as it does confidential sources.