ANNUAL STUDY OF MEDIA TRIALS ANALYZES 14 TRIALS IN 2006: 9 WINS, 5 LOSSES

There were 14 trials in 2006 with libel, privacy and related claims against media defendants based on the gathering and publication of information to the public, and media defendants won nine of these trials, or 64.3 percent, according to the 2007 Report on Trials and Damages released this week by the Media Law Resource Center (MLRC). The Report is an ongoing study of libel, privacy and related claims against media defendants, showing the results and trends in this area of First Amendment litigation in trials from 1980 to the present.

Overall, MLRC’s 2007 Report analyzes 557 trial verdicts from 1980 through 2006. The findings include:

• Media defendants won 223, or 40.8 percent of the verdicts from 1980 through 2006. But after post-trial motions and appeals, defendants were the ultimate winners in 55.8 percent of cases.
• Plaintiffs ultimately won and got to keep the trial damage awards in 26.4 percent of cases, while 12.6 percent of cases settled at some point after trial.
• In the end, after post-trial motions and appeals, the average final award in the cases won by plaintiffs was $560,092, a 80.3 percent decrease from the average award to plaintiffs at trial, $2.85 million. The median final award was $95,000, less than a third of the median trial award of $290,000.
• The 14 trials in 2006 represent one of the lowest number of trials in a single year since 1980. This is part of a long-term trend of declining trials: there were an average of 26.8 trials a year during the 1980s, an average of 19.2 a year during the 1990s, and an average of 13.9 percent so far in the 2000s.
• The 64.3 percent defense victory rate at trial in 2006 is the third highest since 1980. The rate at which defendants have won at trial has steadily increased, from 36.2 percent in the 1980s, to 40.4 percent in the 1990s, and 54.3 percent so far in the 2000s.
• Damage awards averaged $2,466,000, with a lower median of $1,100,000.  Damage awards for the 2000s average $2,687,947 million, with a median of $625,500.
• Punitive damages – which are meant to punish the defendant, rather than to compensate plaintiffs for harm done by defendants – have decreased dramatically in the 2000s. The share of punitive damages in trials awards has dropped from 61.0 percent of the total awarded in the 1980s to 51.1 percent in the 1990s (with one mega-verdict removed), to only 6.7 percent so far in the 2000s. In 2006, punitive damages constituted only 1.9 percent of total awards: the lowest share of any year in the MLRC Report.

"Our studies show a long-term trend of fewer trials against media defendants since 1980, and more media victories at trial," said MLRC Executive Director Sandra Baron. "Because these lawsuits sap enormous time and expense from news organizations whose main mission is providing information to the American public, these trends are positive developments. The statistics should also send a cautionary signal to plaintiffs, since there is a relatively low percentage of victories for plaintiffs at the end of the legal process."

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The Media Law Resource Center is a non-profit information clearinghouse organized in 1980 by leading media groups to monitor developments and promote First Amendment rights in the libel, privacy and related fields. MLRC has systematically monitored trends in libel and privacy trials and appeals since 1980, and its empirical data have been widely cited and reported in the media, in scholarly publications and in judicial opinions. MLRC’s studies have thus played a central role in the ongoing debate over the effect of libel claims on freedom of the press.

MLRC’s members include leading publishers and broadcasters, media and professional trade associations representing newspaper, magazine, newsletter and book publishers, broadcasters, journalists, authors, news directors and newspaper editors, and also media insurance carriers. MLRC’s law firm wing, the MLRC Defense Counsel Section, consists of over 215 member firms around the country and abroad with specialities in media and libel defense representation.

The MLRC Report is available free to the press from MLRC by calling (212) 337-0200. It is available to others for $35 More information from the Report can be found at www.medialaw.org.

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For more information please contact:
Sandra S. Baron, Esq., Executive Director, Media Law Resource Center
(212) 337-0200 x 206 medialaw@medialaw.org