Juror Sentenced for Contempt After "Friend" Attempt

The [Ft. Worth, Tex.] Star-Telegram reports that a Texas juror has pleaded guilty to four counts of contempt and was sentenced to two days of community service after he attempted to “friend” on Facebook the defendant in a civil case stemming from a car crash on which the juror was sitting. After the “friend” request, the juror sent the defendant an apology, saying that he had confused her with someone else.

Short Statement in The State

I was quoted over the weekend in an article in The State newspaper (and posted on their sports website, gogamecocks.com) on University of South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier's decision to bar his players from using Twitter during the season.

More Cases, But No Twitter Trials

As Twitter becomes more ubiquitous -- it now has more than 200 million registered users, and 155 million tweets are sent each day -- defamation, privacy and other lawsuits stemming from tweets are becoming more common.

Ashton Kutcher Gets a Pass; Was the FTC Punk'd?

The New York Times "Bits blog" reports that the Federal Trade Commission has announced -- in a tweet, which is noteworthy in itself -- that it would not be investigating the online issue of Details magazine, guest edited by actor Ashton Kutcher, which profiled a number of tech companies in which Kutcher has investments. (The Times story came after gawker.com pointed out the breach of journalistic ethics.)

The FTC's announcement came one day after the blog reported that Richard Cleland, assistant director of the comission's division of advertising practices, had said that online magazine could run afoul of the FTC's "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

New State-By-State Compilation of Social Media Jury Instructions

Last year I began a state-by-state compilation of jury instructions regarding jurors' use of the Internet and social media, which has been one of the most popular posts on this blog.

Now I have put together a complete compilation of such instructions from the every state, as well as the federal circuits, along with summaries of cases in which the courts have dealt with juror using the Internet and social media during trial.

The new compilation is published in the latest edition of the Reynolds Courts & Media Law Journal (available here), the journal I edit for the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Courts and Media.