Ross v. Midwest Communications, Inc.
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
870 F.2d 271 (1989)
- Written by Katrina Sumner, JD
Facts
In 1983 Marla Ross (plaintiff) was raped. A police lineup included a man, Steven Fossum, who had been convicted of two rapes that occurred around the same time Ross was raped. However, Ross indicated that the man who raped her was not in the lineup. Three years later, station WCCO-TV (the station), which was owned by Midwest Communications (defendant), produced a documentary that advanced the theory that Steven Fossum was innocent of the two rapes for which he had been convicted. The station’s theory was that if Fossum was not Ross’s attacker, and the attack on her was similar to the other two attacks, then Fossum was likely not the perpetrator of the other two attacks either. The documentary revealed Ross’s first name and showed a picture of the home she lived in when attacked. As a result of the documentary, the governor of Texas pardoned Fossum for the second conviction, and Fossum moved for retrial on the first conviction. Ross sued the station for invasion of privacy. The district court granted summary judgment for the station, dismissing Ross’s claim.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Higginbotham, J.)
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