Guice-Mills v. Forbes

OPINION OF THE COURT

Walter B. Tolub, J.

By this motion, this court is presented with the unique issue of whether a professional journalist’s disclosure of nonconfidential and subsequently unpublished information obtained during research of a news story constitutes a waiver of the protections afforded to journalists under Civil Rights Law § 79-h.

Background

This case arises out of the claim that defendants, Reverend Dr. James A. Forbes, Jr., the principal minister of the Riverside Church, and Frank Boone, an employee of the Church, circulated a copy of plaintiffs record of conviction for criminal…