Want access to unlimited case records and advanced research tools? Create your free CasePortal account now. No credit card required to register.
Try CasePortal for FreeJ. McKinnon finds that New York's fair report privilege, not Montana's, applies to a Montana resident's defamation claim against the New York Post. Statements published by the Post were fair and substantially accurate reports of underlying court proceedings, so the trial court erred in holding that a jury would have to decide their fairness and accuracy. The Post article made clear that allegations that the resident kept a harem, committed sexual assaults, engaged in bribery and planned a murder were contained in civil complaints. The fair report privilege protects reporting even if the allegations prove to be false, reporters are not required to independently investigate allegations made in an official proceeding, and colorful or hyperbolic characterizations of proceedings are protected if substantially true. Reversed in part.