That's TheWrap: A Change In California Law To Protect Online Media Publications

A dispute involving an online media publisher has prompted California's Legislature and Governor Jerry Brown to revise California's libel law, in an effort to protect such publishers. California's Civil Code Section 48a previously limited a plaintiff suing for libel in a newspaper to special damages, unless he or she demanded that the publisher correct the allegedly false statements and the publisher failed to make such corrections. A 2014 California Court of Appeal decision refused to extend this protection to online media publications, finding that the term "newspaper" meant "a publication that was printed on inexpensive paper, often daily" when Section 48a was enacted in 1931 and amended in 1945. Partially in recognition of this decision, the California Legislature proposed Assembly Bill 988 earlier this year, which revised the language of Section 48a to expand protection to online publishers. Governor Brown approved the bill on September 28, 2015, and the new law will take effect on January 1, 2016. The law contains no language regarding retroactive application.

The following discussion of the case is taken from the Court of Appeal's opinion:

On May 9, 2012, Steve Pond published an article on the media website TheWrap called "Mayan Mystery: Doc Financier Accused of Fleeing With Film Footage." The article discussed the chaotic production surrounding the documentary Revelations of the Mayans 2012 and Beyond. According to the article, the film's producer (Raul Julia-Levy) made criminal accusations against the film's executive producer (Elisabeth Thieriot), including that she (i) stole the film's footage and equipment, (ii) filmed on Mexican federal ground without authorization, and (iii) fled Mexico in violation of a government order.

Five days after the article was published, Thieriot sued TheWrap and Pond, stating that the article's accusations were untrue and were based solely on false claims made by Julia-Levy. Among other things, Thieriot accused TheWrap of publishing the article despite (i) receiving information placing Julia-Levy's credibility and reputation in question, and (ii) a request from Thieriot's representative for time to investigate the allegations and to provide further facts and documents to Pond.

The defendants moved to strike the complaint pursuant to California's Anti-SLAPP Statute - Code of Civil Procedure § 425.16 - arguing that there were issues of public interest and that Thieriot could not establish a...