First Lehigh Bank v. Cowen

KELLY, Judge:

In this appeal we are asked to determine whether the fair report privilege applies to a media account of an initial pleading in the absence of judicial action upon the pleading. Specifically, we must decide whether the ap-pellee newspaper possessed a qualified privilege to report information contained in a *499private civil complaint against appellants in federal court but upon which no judicial action had been taken. We hold that the fair report privilege applied and that the newspaper fairly and accurately reported the information contained in the complaint. Accordingly, we affirm…