Judge dismisses most claims against ABC News for 'PrimeTime Live' report
The Associated Press
12.18.98
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PHOENIX — A federal judge has dismissed most sections of a medical lab operator's lawsuit against ABC News over a "PrimeTime Live" expose of cancer screening tests.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver yesterday granted ABC News summary judgment — dismissal of a case before trial — on all but one claim in a lawsuit filed on behalf of John Devaraj.
The suit had accused ABC of fraud and trespass against a Phoenix medical laboratory Devaraj had owned, Consultants Medical Lab. The lawsuit challenged not only the undercover techniques but also the accuracy of the report.
Silver left open the possibility of a jury trial on Devaraj's claim for $3,000 in medical costs said to have stemmed from emotional distress.
One of Devaraj's attorneys, Brian Rishwain, said he expected to appeal Silver's decision. "We're not going away," he said.
The ABC newsmagazine "PrimeTime Live" used a hidden camera and false identities in an undercover 1994 investigation of the lab, which checked Pap smear slides for signs of cervical cancer.
The newsmagazine show also sent more than 600 Pap smear slides to the lab and three others nationwide. The labs failed to detect the presence of potential cancer cells on a number of slides, the show said.
The story won a Peabody Award, given for excellence in broadcasting.
Attorney Andy Hurwitz, who represented ABC, said Silver's decision would help set guidelines for such undercover investigations but that otherwise its significance was unclear beyond the specific case.
Jane Kirtley, executive director of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, said the issue of newsgathering techniques "is the cutting-edge issue in terms of what the parameters of the First Amendment will be, because the Supreme Court has never told us much about what the First Amendment protection for newsgathering is."
In a 1997 decision in Food Lion v. Capital Cities/ABC Inc., a federal jury awarded Food Lion $5.5 million in damages for fraud, trespass and breach of loyalty over a "PrimeTime Live" hidden camera expose. The suit alleged that staffers who took jobs at the North Carolina-based grocery chain to learn about its operations lied in order to get the jobs. A judge cut the verdict to $315,000. ABC is appealing.
Update
Federal appeals court dismisses privacy lawsuit against ABC News
9th Circuit says public interest in news gathered for 'PrimeTime Live' segment outweighed any offense that occurred when reporters secretly videotaped discussions at Arizona lab.
09.24.02
