February 7, 2008

POS 282--Introduction to American Law
In class today, Thursday 2/7, I collected the Goss case briefs. We finished our discussion of Katko and Suggs. We started, but did not finish, discussing the Goss brief. On Tuesday 2/12 I will (hopefully) hand back the Goss case briefs, and we will discuss them, as well as Chapter 2. The assignment for Tuesday 2/12 is to read and prepare to discuss pages 63-90 of the text.

CMJ 375--Mass Media Law
In class today, Thursday 2/7, I distributed one handout, which is the assignment due next Thursday 2/14. We finished our discussion of Chapter 3 and the jury instructions in the 2 Soldier of Fortune cases. We also went over the concepts of federal jurisdiction and conflict of law rules. The assignment for Tuesday 2/12 is to read and prepare to discuss pages 109-148 of the text. Also, the assignment is copied below:

This assignment is due at the beginning of class on Thursday, February 14

1) Read the attached Maine Supreme Court case of Caron v. Bangor Publishing Co. 470 A.2d 782 (Me, 1984).

2) Go to this website to read the full text of the 1990 decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co 497 US 1 (1990)

http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/historics/USSC_CR_0497_0001_ZS.html
(there are other sites as well, but this one is well laid out)
Read both the majority and the dissenting opinions.

3) Both cases deal with the characterization of fact v. opinion in defamation law. The 1984 Caron case was decided based on what the Maine Supreme Court understood at the time to be the applicable constitutional standard, but the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1990 Milkovich case changed those rules somewhat.

4) Write a paper (approximately 2-3 double-spaced pages) summarizing in your own words:
a) what the Maine Supreme Court decided in the Caron case regarding how to characterize a statement as either fact or opinion, and what the consequence is of that designation for whether the statement is actionable.
b) what the majority decision of the U.S. Supreme Court decided in the Milkovich case regarding how to characterize a statement as either fact or opinion, and what the consequence is of that designation for whether the statement is actionable.
c) whether, and in what way, the Milkovich majority opinion would change the analysis and outcome of the Caron case
d) whether, and in what way, the Milkovich dissenting opinion would change the analysis and outcome of the Caron case
e) whether you find the majority or the dissenting opinion in Milkovich more persuasive, and why.

You may e-mail me if you have questions about the paper. The more time that I have to answer your questions, the more likely it is that I can be helpful.

If you cannot be in class on Thursday 2/14, you should still e-mail me your paper by the beginning of class time. If you do that, you will not have any grade deducted from your grade for the paper. If you do not, you should still contact me as soon as possible to see what options are available to you.