Settlement May Not End Contempt Proceedings Against Former USA Today Reporter
You may have read that Dr. Steven Hatfill settled his lawsuit against the United States in June for $5.85 million. The government had identified Hatfill as a person of interest in the 2001 anthrax attacks -- falsely, as it turns out, which resulted in his lawsuit.
In prosecuting his lawsuit, Hatfill sought to compel Toni Locy, a former USA Today reporter, to divulge her sources for articles that had discussed the government’s interest in Hatfill. Locy refused to give up her sources, which resulted in United States District Court Judge Reggie Walton entering a contempt order against her. Here is my post from March about the proceedings involving Locy.
She appealed the order, and the D. C. Circuit Court of Appeals stayed the order and heard oral argument on Locy’s appeal in May, but has not issued a decision.
I suspect most people, including me, assumed that Hatfill’s settlement would moot Judge Walton’s order, but that may not be so. According to Scott Shane's article in yesterday’s New York Times about Bruce Ivins (whom the government has identified as the actual anthrax killer), Hatfill has asked the Court of Appeals to dismiss Locy’s appeal, which would allow Judge Walton’s order to stand.
The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press' blog explains that Hatfill's motion could force Locy to pay his attorney’s fees, an amount that could dwarf what Locy would have owed under the contempt order.
Starting this fall, Locy became the Donald W. Reynolds Professor of Legal Reporting at Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia. She formerly held the Shott Chair of Journalism at West Virginia University's P. I. Reed School of Journalism.
