Katrina Victims: Justice is Coming

A few years ago, I had the privilege of representing an exceptionally talented, courageous journalist in a fight for the right of reporters to publish the truth about powerful institutions without fear of reprisal.

Her name is Nikki Finke.

At the time, she was a reporter for the New York Post who wrote two accurate stories about the Walt Disney Company and its notorious lawsuit with the owners of the rights to Winnie The Pooh. Nikki reported that Disney had been sanctioned by the trial court for destroying potentially relevant documents.

Using its considerable corporate muscle, Disney got Nikki fired and defamed her in the process. I agreed to take her lawsuit on a pro bono basis. We sued Disney and News Corp.—two of the largest media companies on the planet. The behemoths filed a motion to throw out her case, claiming that their First Amendment rights were being “chilled” by my unemployed client.

This was, of course, nonsense. Not to mention typical Big Media bullying tactics to bankrupt the plaintiff’s lawyer with frivolous motions and delaying tactics.

Fortunately, we had a trial judge who saw through all these obstructionist tactics and denied the motion to toss out Nikki’s case. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial judge’s decision in an important decision further protecting litigants from such abusive treatment. Finke v. Walt Disney Co., 110 Cal. App. 4th 1210 (2003).

With her regular column in LA Weekly and a highly-trafficked blog (Deadline Hollywood), Nikki has become the top entertainment industry observer. This exceptional journalist deserves all of the praise and awards that she has garnered for her fearless—and accurate—reporting about Big Studios, their executives, movie stars, producers, writers, and directors, and a host of other players in show biz.