Court Reversal: Rules 'OCR' Can Report on Own Court Case

By: A California appeals court on Monday overturned a lower court's order that barred The Orange County Register from reporting on trial testimony in a $100 million lawsuit in which the newspaper is a defendant.

A division of the state 4th District Court of Appeal ruled that the judge's order was impermissible prior restraint in violation of the U.S. and California constitutions. The newspaper is being sued by 6,000 newspaper carriers who allege unfair labor practices.

The appeals court ordered Orange County Superior Court Judge David C. Velasquez to vacate his order barring the newspaper from the courtroom.

Attorneys representing the newspaper carriers had complained that the newspaper's reporting was biased and could influence a jury in its favor. Jury selection in the trial began Monday, and the Register said on its Web site that it would cover the trial without bias.

"The appeals court order is really a victory for the people," said Register Editor Ken Brusic. "Freedom depends on an unfettered press, and the ability to report what happens in open court is fundamental."

"The Register has a practice of running articles in its paper that are self-serving," said Daniel Callahan, the carriers' lead lawyer. "It is writing to the subscribers, which are members of our jury pool, and saying that this lawsuit lacks merit."

The Register maintains that the carriers are not employees of the newspaper but independent contractors. The carriers say that classification denies them overtime pay and mileage and forces them to pay costs and fines they incur on the job. They are seeking millions in damages.

The appeals court noted that the U.S. Supreme Court has limited such prior restraint to instances that would result in certain death, such as revealing troop movements in wartime.

Legal scholars criticized Velasquez's order, and the Register was joined in its appeal by more than two dozen news organizations, publishers and First Amendment rights groups, including The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, Reuters, CNN and the American Society of Newspaper Editors.

"It was an important First Amendment principle that the government, which includes courts, may not restrain the press from publishing absent a compelling interest of the highest order," said Kelli Sager, an attorney who represented Freedom Communications Inc., the paper's Irvine, Calif.-based parent, in the press freedom appeal.

In a separate decision, the appeals court upheld a fine Velasquez issued against the Register last week for $23,792.50 for deleting e-mails connected to the case.

The paper said it did not know the e-mails in question were relevant before its computers automatically deleted them. It said it has turned over more than 10 million documents and 130,000 e-mails in connection with the case.