Joseph A. Maressa, Plaintiff-Respondent v. New Jersey Monthly and Hendrix F. C. Niemann and Christopher Leach and…

Summary

The New Jersey Supreme Court held that the State Shield Law provides an absolute privilege for newspersons in civil libel actions, protecting both confidential sources and editorial processes, and that the trial court's order compelling discovery was reversed and the case remanded. A dissent argued that the Shield Law should not bar discovery of editorial processes and that the majority’s interpretation unduly limits the plaintiff’s constitutional right to sue for defamation.