False light

A front-page teaser that wrongly stated that the subjects of a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission were "arrested" was not made with "actual malice" -- intentional falsity or reckless disregard for the truth -- the New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled.

The decision means that the The Nutley Sun and its parent company, the North Jersey Media Group, are not liable to the plaintiffs in the false light case filed against them.

The Maryland Court of Appeals ruled this week that the Baltimore City Paper was protected by reporting privileges when it published information from the court record of a grisly, local murder trial -- information not used during the trial and potentially implicating another person not tried for the crime.

A Nashville, Tenn., woman can pursue her defamation lawsuit stemming from a prison reality show that featured footage unknowingly taken of the woman while she visited her husband in prison, a federal judge ruled last week.

A pair of recent court decisions have reaffirmed that plaintiffs can continue to pursue false light privacy invasion lawsuits, despite much public debate and criticism surrounding the claims.

Online photographs of a bikini-clad woman accompanied by unflattering comments did not invade her privacy, a federal judge in Arizona recently ruled.

One of Germany's highest appellate courts this month ruled that the country’s courts have long-arm jurisdiction over an American author and newspaper because the article was viewed on the Internet in Germany.

The Washington state appellate court is planning to review an odd defamation case against the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in which the plaintiff does not dispute the accuracy of the report but claims it libeled him anyway, The News Tribune of Tacoma reports.

Florida does not recognize a false light invasion of privacy claim, the state's high court held on Thursday.

In a double victory for free speech advocates, the court’s decision not to recognize the false light claim in a lawsuit against the group Jews for Jesus in effect threw out another false light suit against the Pensacola News-Journal.

Both cases were handed down by the court on the same day.

A Las Vegas Realtor is suing USA Today for libel, saying a June 3 article about mortgage fraud tarnished her reputation and sank her career.

"I had lots of clients," Erin Schlumpf told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "Now I can't even get a client. Nobody will list with me or sell. I can't even hang my license anywhere. I'm pretty much wiped out."