Four Texas Lawyers Sue TV Station for Defendant List that Included Their Names
A Lubbock television station apologized when a list of 25 criminal defendants published online included their lawyers’ names, possibly leaving the impression that the lawyers had also been charged.
That’s not good enough for four lawyers who have sued TV station KCBD-TV, its general manager and its Web provider, Texas Lawyer reports.
The plaintiffs are lawyers Vince Martinez, Sara Moore, Jody Myatt and Frederick Stangl. According to their suit, the list made it appear as if Martinez and Moore had been charged with theft, Myatt with marijuana possession and Stangl with violation of a protective order. The false criminal allegations are untrue and libel per se, they say.
Lubbock solo David Lanehart represents the four lawyers. He told Texas Lawyer his clients may have lost business because their names were on the list. “You’ll never know if someone out there who’s read it is going to go, ‘Hell, I’m not going to hire that guy or gal,’ ” he said.
According to earlier reports, the list had the word “name” at the top and the word “attorney” on the second indented line. Then each defendant was listed, followed by the name of his or her lawyer and the charge. The lawyers were not individually identified as such.
