California Court Rejects Trial Court's Gag Order on Newspaper's Reporting of Trial Testimony
In a strongly-worded opinion, a California appellate court directed the trial court to vacate an order--issued sua sponte--enjoining a newspaper, The Orange County Register, from reporting on the trial testimony of any witness in a wage-and-hour class action in which the newspaper was a defendant. Characterizing the order as "censorship", the appellate court readily concluded that the danger sought to be averted by the gag order--the risk that witnesses might be influenced by reading news reports of the testimony of other witnesses--could not possibly justify such a prior restraint.
You can find a copy of the court's opinion in Freedom Communications, Inc. v. Superior Court of Orange County here (PDF, 5 pages).
