Legal Trouble

The McSteamy sex tape was the scandal of the summer, and the copyright lawsuit filed by actors Eric Dane and Rebecca Gayheart against Gawker Media is still pending.

A few months ago, we sought out a legal opinion on the case, but last week we spotted another take on the outcome. Rob Arcamona wrote his take on the case for PBS's MediaShift blog, focusing on what Gawker cut out of the original 12-minute sex tape to whittle it down to about four minutes. What they cut out and why can affect Gawker's "fair use" defense, Arcamona said:

"In the end, if this case goes to trial, the outcome will likely depend on what Gawker chose to cut from the video. It's a strange reality that, in the case of sex tapes, what a news organization doesn't publish is sometimes more important that what it does."

Arcamona still thinks Gawker would prevail in a suit, although its chances of making it to trial are slim.

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There has been a great outcry in the media over Barack Obama's reversal/hedging on the federal shield law, the legislation that protects journalists from revealing their anonymous sources. While this has typically been dealt with on a state-by-state basis, currently Congress is debating turning the protection into a federal precedent. During his campaign, Obama promised a transparent White House, only to turn around ten months later and start talking about putting limitations on the law: his argument being that in cases of national security, journalists must be required to reveal their sources.

And while many wonder if we're going to see the Valerie Plame case played out all over again if this blanket legislation doesn't pass, another issue has been overlooked: Do bloggers fall under the protection of the shield law?

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(From left: Kiki Paris before her accident, and afterwards wearing a halo neckbrace and holding her separation papers from MSLO)

A former Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia employee has filed suit against the company in Manhattan district court, claiming the media company violated federal employment laws after forcing her to return to work too soon after a debilitating injury and then firing her soon after.

FishbowlNY reported exclusively about this case back in April when Kiki Paris, a former senior director of national accounts at MSLO's Body + Soul magazine, filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

Paris fractured her spine in May 2008 after being hit by a car, forcing her to undergo surgery to screw her fractured vertebrae together. She was placed in a halo neckbrace for 12 weeks to immobilize her spine, and was instructed to stay home from work on disability leave for three months.

But, according to Paris, her supervisors at Body + Soul pressured her to go off disability and begin working from home nine weeks after her accident. Then, less than a month after she returned to work, she was fired. Although the company was undergoing restructuring at the time, Paris alleges that her injury was the main reason she was laid off. Paris, who worked for the company for two and half years, claimed that prior to her injury she had brought in millions of dollars in revenue for the company and had a great reputation among its major advertisers.

After filing a complaint with the EEOC earlier this year, Paris received a right to sue from the federal agency in July. On Tuesday, she filed her complaint against MSLO, alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, among others.

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