Steven D. Zansberg

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• Persuaded a Colorado judge to lift an unconstitutional prior restraint order that prohibited a newspaper from publishing materials its reporter had lawfully obtained from a court clerk, including grand jury testimony.

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• Obtained  dismissal of a libel suit against a Denver television station and The Denver Post newspaper under Colorado's anti-SLAPP statute.  The court found that the publications at issue, that reported on a series of complaints against a private vendor to the state's Department of Public Health and Environment, were substantially true and protected by the "fair report" privilege.

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• Obtained a published precedential ruling from the California Court of Appeal holding that  the California Public Utilities Commission must comply with the strict statutory deadline for responding to public records act requests.   The Court rejected PUC's claim that records requesters must wait for months or years, exhausting internal administrative appeals, before having access to the courts.

 

• Obtained dismissal under Colorado's anti-SLAPP Act, of a defamation lawsuit brought by anti-abortion activists against a book author for labeling their campaign to discredit Planned Parenthood  "fake news." The court held the challenged publications were substantially true.  Colorado's Court of Appeals affirmed that ruling.

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• Successfully defended the Denver Post and KUSA-TV in a libel suit brought by a convicted felon who disputed the details of a press release from the District Attorney's Office announcing the jury's verdict.  Colorado's Court of Appeals upheld the dismissal under the "fair report privilege."

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• Successfully defended the weekly newspaper Westword in a defamation action brought by the former head of Emergency Medicine at Denver’s Children’s Hospital. The court held that the challenged articles were substantially true.

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• Successfully defended the operator of an online news publication, Examiner.com, in obtaining dismissal, under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, of libel claims brought by Hollywood celebrity Andrew Keegan. The court held that Keegan could not show that the news report at issue was published with actual malice.

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• Obtained a published decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit affirming summary judgment for Clarity Media Group on 75 copyright infringement claims brought by two photography licensing agencies. The claims were premised on celebrity photos posted to the Examiner.com website by paid third-party contributors. ​

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• Successfully defended The Discovery Channel in a suit arising from an episode of the documentary TV program Homicide Hunter, which depicted the plaintiff’s involvement in a gang-related altercation that resulted in a 14-year-old’s death. The trial court dismissed all of the plaintiff’s defamation, emotional distress, and invasion of privacy claims, finding that the program was substantially true.

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• Successfully defended The Denver Post and its reporter in a libel case brought by a former City Council candidate based on a report that the candidate was “caught up in a plagiarism charge.” Colorado’s Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of all claims, ruling that the newspaper’s report was both substantially true and not defamatory.

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• Successfully represented A&E Television Networks in obtaining summary judgment on libel claims premised on the Gangland: Aryan Brotherhood program. The Tenth Circuit (Gorsuch, J.) affirmed the dismissal, holding that depicting the plaintiff as a "member" of the Aryan Brotherhood prison gang, when he "merely conspired with the [Aryan] Brotherhood in a criminal enterprise," is not actionable because it is substantially true.