Media, Privacy & Commercial Speech

(U.S.); (5th Cir.); (W.D. Tex.) – Obtained summary judgment defending the State Bar of Texas against a First Amendment mandatory bar challenge; on appeal, the Fifth Circuit vacated and granted partial summary judgment and a preliminary injunction to the three plaintiffs, but upheld the vast majority of the Bar’s challenged initiatives as constitutional; the U.S. Supreme Court denied our opponents’ cert petition

(W.D. Tex.) – Obtained dismissal of negligence, gross negligence, and civil conspiracy claims against a television network brought by an individual featured on a documentary television program

(5th Cir.); (S.D. Tex.) – Obtained dismissal of defamation claim by political activist against online news site

(NY App. Div.) – Obtained affirmance of dismissal of defamation and tortious interference claims by hedge fund against publisher of national newspaper

(5th Cir.); (E.D. Tex.) – Obtained affirmance of dismissal of RICO, conspiracy, tortious interference, and defamation claims against local newspaper and its employees and owner

(Tex.) – Obtained dismissal under the Texas anti-SLAPP statute of defamation claims over newspaper’s coverage of healthcare fraud investigation

(Tex. App.) – Secured dismissal of libel claims by prominent anti-vaccine activist against U.K.-based medical journal and award-winning investigative reporter

(W.D. Tex.) — Represented a major media company in a dispute relating to on-line database search technology; obtained complete dismissal of all claims with prejudice

(5th Cir.) — Obtained affirmance of dismissal under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) of a highly publicized case arising from the alleged sexual assault of a 14-year old girl by a man she allegedly met on MySpace.com; the U.S. Supreme Court denied the Plaintiff’s petition for writ of certiorari 

(Tex. App.); (S.D. Miss.) — Represented Fortune 500 e-commerce company in several actions, including in obtaining the dismissal of claims under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act and the dismissal of pre-suit proceedings seeking the identities of anonymous Internet posters

(Tex. Dist. – Smith Cnty.) — Obtained summary judgment for The New York Times and documentary television producers in a high-profile defamation and business disparagement case based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning reports on workplace conditions at an East Texas plant

(S.D.N.Y) — Represented a major media company in a class action lawsuit brought against several defendant-publishers involving allegations of fraud, negligence and liability in relation to a national, multi-year subscription fraud scheme; obtained complete dismissal of all claims with prejudice

(Tex. Dist. – Dallas Cnty.) — Represented leading U.S.-based publisher and multinational media firm in a defamation case filed by two homeowners who were briefly alleged to have a mass grave in their back yard; our clients covered the story through wire reports, a series of tweets, and then in a longer report; we obtained dismissal of the claims, along with an award of attorneys’ fees, under Texas’ anti-SLAPP statute; the case was one of the first anti-SLAPP actions in Texas and one of the first Twitter libel cases in the nation 

(Fed. Cir.); (E.D. Tex.) — Represented a major media company in a patent infringement case related to photographic images and information displayed on the floor—a significant source of revenue for the client—and obtained a very favorable ruling on claim construction; subsequently, the plaintiff conceded that it could not prove infringement, and the court entered a final judgment of dismissal, which was affirmed on appeal

(Tex. Dist.) – Secured dismissal of various claims against Internet service provider by individual allegedly assaulted by someone she met online

(S.D. Tex.) — Obtained summary judgment before any discovery was taken for our clients, an entertainment network and its subsidiary, in a defamation and misappropriation case arising out of the second season of a network program