Federal appeals court hears arguments in reporter contempt case

The Associated Press

03.02.99

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WILMINGTON, N.C. — A journalist who reported the details of a settlement reached by Conoco Inc. in a pollution lawsuit should divulge his sources or go to jail, an attorney for the company argued yesterday.

But an attorney for Cory Reiss of the Morning Star of Wilmington told a federal appeals court yesterday that the confidentiality of his sources was protected by the First Amendment and that the contempt case against him was flawed.

"The notion of procedural irregularity where a person might go to jail is a very serious one," First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams told a three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. "You ought to give the benefit of the doubt."

Conoco attorney Jon Sasser wants to find out who broke a gag order and gave Reiss specifics of the $36 million settlement reached with 178 Wrightsboro residents whose well water was contaminated with gasoline additives.

Sasser says Conoco is pushing the issue because it may affect how much money it has to pay out as part of the 1997 settlement. The company may be able to recoup some money if one of the plaintiffs is found to have violated the deal. The energy company also fears the settlement figure could be used as a benchmark for future lawsuits.

"This is not a case against Mr. Reiss," Sasser said. "We did not set out to make him a posterboy for the Press Association."

Conoco filed the original motion asking the court to compel Reiss to reveal his sources and is now making the case that the court needs to know who violated its order.

"What's going on in this case is that the lines are all blurred," said 4th Circuit Court Judge J. Michael Luttig. "I don't know why we had the court's interest in a motion to compel by Conoco."

U. S. District Court Judge W. Earl Britt, who sealed the deal and directed plaintiffs not to talk about it, found Reiss in contempt of court last October. He ordered Reiss to reveal the names and addresses of the anonymous sources or surrender to U.S. marshals. Britt said the court had an interest in the names because those sources might be plaintiffs who violated the settlement's sealing order.

Reiss refused but was granted a request to postpone the sanctions while the New York Times Co., parent of the Morning Star, appealed the case.

Kirsten Mitchell, Raleigh bureau chief of the Morning Star, is waiting to hear from the 4th Circuit on her appeal involving the same case.

Mitchell confirmed the settlement figure after a court clerk mistakenly gave her the sealed settlement as part of the public court file. In January 1998, Britt convicted Mitchell and the newspaper of contempt and set a $500,000 fine. The 4th Circuit heard their appeal last October but has not yet made a decision.