2006 MLRC/NAA/NAB LIBEL DEFENSE ... - Directrouter.com

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For exclusive use of MLRC members and other parties specifically authorized by MLRC. © Media Law Resource Center, Inc.7. Size of Jury:N/A.8. Significant Pre-Trial Rulings:None.9. Significant Mid-Trial Rulings:Allowed Plaintiff’s entire criminal history (convictions, arrests, other reports) to beused to impeach Bramlett, given his failure to truthfully answer discovery requests aboutsame.10. Trial Management (mid-trial jury instructions, special verdict, sequentialissue determination, bifurcation):N/A.11. Pre-Selection Jury Work (psychological profiles, attitudes surveys, mocktrial, pre-selection questionnaires, “shadow” juries):None.12. Pretrial Evaluation:Prior to final trial preparation, we offered $27,500, simply to avoid the costs of trial.Liability looked bad, as the original clips didn’t support the published statement that theplaintiff had been convicted and was on death row, it was unclear who wrote and/or editedstatement, and some newspaper staff knew plaintiff to be a free man who hadn’t beenconvicted of murder. However, plaintiff’s meager income increased after publication and noone who read one of the several dozen booklets that were distributed believed it to be true, sodamages were in dispute.13. Defense Juror Preference During Selection:None.14. Actual Jury Makeup:N/A.2
For exclusive use of MLRC members and other parties specifically authorized by MLRC. © Media Law Resource Center, Inc.15. Issues Tried:Liability (although for obvious reasons we did concentrate on this), and the lack ofdamages.16. Plaintiff’s Theme(s):He had been called a capital murderer, on death row through gross negligence; that’sgot to be worth a lot.17. Defendant’s Theme(s):We made a mistake, immediately issued a correction, and the plaintiff has nodamages.18. Factors/Evidence:N/A.a. Pre-existing attitudes of the venire towards the plaintiff, defendant,or issues:b. Sympathy for plaintiff during trial:None. Plaintiff’s wife cried, but without impact.c. Proof of actual injury:None. Plaintiff had extensive reputation as a public drunk and intimidating thug, asdid his whole family; said he had to move out of area to find new clients for contractingbusiness, so income increased when moved to metropolitan area. Had difficulty pointing toanyone who believed publication and to anyone whose actions were known to have beentaken because of the publication. He was a self-employed contractor, and his income went upeach of the years following our publication. He could find no one who believed he was ondeath row, given that he was walking the streets. Of 500 books published, we were able toshow that only 60 had hit the streets, and were able to show that about 30 of those were in thehands of his family members.d. Defendants’ newsgathering/reporting:Terribly sloppy; unclear who wrote story; testimony that no one had time to edit it;reporter who was assigned to write story was a former secretary, with no formal journalismtraining who had been convicted for writing bad checks during her time as a reporter;courthouse where facts on plaintiff’s murder charge could have been discovered was a blockaway; no evidence presented (or available) as to the source of the information for the3
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2006 MLRC/NAA/NAB LIBEL DEFENSE ... - Directrouter.com

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