Judge Rejects Group’s Bid to Block Publication of Story

A Los Angeles judge Thursday rejected the American Humane Assn.’s request to block the Los Angeles Times from publishing a story that might include details from an internal personnel report.

Calling the request a “classic” example of prior restraint, Superior Court Judge Dzintra I. Janavs denied the association’s motion for an order preventing publication.

The association sued the newspaper Tuesday after concluding that a reporter, based on questions during an interview, might have a copy of the personnel report. The report was commissioned in 1999 to investigate a series of disputes within the group’s Western regional office.

During Thursday’s hearing, which lasted 15 minutes, association attorney Michael St. Denis argued that the organization had not determined if, or how, the personnel report had been obtained by the newspaper. And, he argued, using any information from the internal report would not rise to the level of “public interest” required to justify protecting publication of an article.

Janavs dismissed those arguments, declaring that the actions of the nonprofit agency would be of public interest.

The judge also agreed with attorneys for The Times, represented at the hearing by Alonzo Wickers, that prior restraint would violate free press protections in both the California Constitution and the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

“There is a reason they made it the 1st Amendment,” Times Deputy General Counsel Karlene Goller said after the ruling.

Late Thursday, St. Denis said the association would not appeal the judge’s ruling.