Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC

346 F. Supp. 3d 1162
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 27, 2018
DocketCase No. 12 C 658
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 346 F. Supp. 3d 1162 (Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC, 346 F. Supp. 3d 1162 (illinoised 2018).

Opinion

Harry D. Leinenweber, Judge

Both parties seek reconsideration of this Court's September 29, 2016, Memorandum Opinion and Order (ECF No. 80). For the reasons stated herein, Defendant's Motion to Reconsider (ECF No. 110) is denied, and Plaintiffs' Motion to Reconsider (ECF No. 112) is granted.

I. BACKGROUND

Five police officers brought this action against Sun-Times Media, LLC ("Sun-Times"), a Chicago newspaper, for obtaining personal information about them from state motor vehicle records and publishing that information in its coverage of a politically-charged homicide investigation. In April 2004, David Koschman died after an altercation with R.J. Vanecko, nephew to Richard M. Daley, then-Mayor of Chicago. The subsequent Chicago Police Department ("CPD") investigation resulted in no charges against Vanecko because no eyewitness positively identified him. Not relevant to this case, but certainly noteworthy, is that after the CPD failed to bring charges, a special prosecutor was appointed to investigate Koschman's death. The investigation led to Vanecko's indictment and charge of a single count of involuntary manslaughter. Vanecko pled guilty in January 2014.

The Sun-Times published a series of investigative reports criticizing the CPD's investigation and failure to bring charges against Vanecko. One article in the series is at the center of this case. On November 21, 2011, the Sun-Times published an article titled, "Daley Nephew Biggest Guy on Scene, But Not in Lineup," which described how the lineup contained only men who closely resembled Vanecko. The Sun-Times accused the CPD of manipulating *1166the lineup to lead to misidentification and thus stop charges from being filed. The article included two lineup photos: the first lineup comprising fillers-Plaintiffs-and the second lineup comprising Vanecko's friends present at the scene of the crime. Alongside the photos, the Sun-Times published a graphic that identified Plaintiffs in the first lineup by name and birthdate, as well as by height, weight, hair color, and eye color (collectively "the Information"). Plaintiffs allege that the Sun-Times violated the Driver's Privacy Protection Act ("DPPA"), 18 U.S.C. § 2721 et seq. , by (1) obtaining personal information from their motor vehicle records and (2) disclosing that information to the public.

The Sun-Times moved to dismiss that claim, arguing that the DPPA does not prohibit the type of information disclosed by the Sun-Times and that even if it did, the DPPA's prohibitions as applied violated the First Amendment. The Court denied the Sun-Times' Motion to Dismiss but granted an interlocutory appeal to the Seventh Circuit. Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC , 39 F.Supp.3d 998 (N.D. Ill. 2014). The Seventh Circuit affirmed this Court's ruling, holding that: (1) the Information constituted "personal information" under the DPPA; (2) the DPPA's prohibition on obtaining personal information did not warrant heightened First Amendment scrutiny, and, as such, was rationally related to the government's legitimate interest; and (3) the DPPA's prohibition on disclosing personal information was content-neutral, and passed muster under intermediate scrutiny by furthering important government interests unrelated to suppression of free expression and not restricting more speech than was necessary to further those interests. Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC , 777 F.3d 937 (7th Cir. 2015). In other words, the DPPA, as applied, did not violate the First Amendment in prohibiting the Sun-Times from either obtaining the officers' personal information from motor vehicle records or subsequently disclosing that information. Id.

After remand, the Sun-Times filed its Answer to the Complaint, pleading nine affirmative defenses. Plaintiffs moved for judgment on the pleadings and to strike the affirmative defenses. The Court granted Plaintiffs judgment on the pleadings as to the disclosure claim, but denied it as to the obtainment claim, reasoning:

The Sun-Times' best argument is that at the time it obtained the Plaintiffs' personal information it did not have the line-up photographs to compare the fillers with Vanecko. It appears that the Seventh Circuit may well in fact recognize a "balancing" test so that under certain circumstances the press would be allowed to obtain personal information while investigating a matter of public significance and the invasion of privacy was not particularly great. Recall that there are two separate acts here that arguably violate the DPPA. First, obtaining the information, and, second, its publication. Although the record is silent as to the date the Sun-Times obtained the personal information from the Secretary of State, the implication from the pleadings is that it did not have access to the line-up photos at the time it obtained the personal information. Thus a balancing could arguably come out in favor of the Sun-Times for the act of obtaining the personal information. However, at the time of its publication, the Sun-Times did have the photographs so that the personal information at the time of publication was, as the Seventh Circuit found, "largely cumulative."

Dahlstrom v. Sun-Times Media, LLC , No. 12-c-658, 2016 WL 5477889, at *3 (N.D. Ill. Sept. 29, 2016). Correspondingly, the *1167Court struck the First Amendment affirmative defense as to the disclosure claim.

Now, after further discovery between the parties, both parties move the Court to reconsider its earlier ruling.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Motion to Reconsider Standard

No final judgment has been entered in this case, thus Rule 54(b) governs the parties' Motions for Reconsideration. Under Rule 54(b), "any order ... that adjudicates fewer than all the claims ... does not end the action as to any of the claims or parties and may be revised at any time before the entry of a judgment." FED. R. CIV. P. 54(b) ; Galvan v. Norberg , 678 F.3d 581, 587 n.3 (7th Cir. 2012). Courts may grant motions for reconsideration "to correct manifest errors of law or fact or to present newly discovered evidence." Caisse Nationale de Credit Agricole v. CBI Indus., Inc. , 90 F.3d 1264, 1269 (7th Cir. 1996).

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Bluebook (online)
346 F. Supp. 3d 1162, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dahlstrom-v-sun-times-media-llc-illinoised-2018.