Florida Star v. B. J. F.
| Florida Star v. B. J. F. | |
|---|---|
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| Argued March 21, 1989 Decided June 21, 1989 |
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| Full case name | The Florida Star v. B. J. F. |
| Citations | 491 U.S. 524 (more)
109 S. Ct. 2603; 105 L. Ed. 2d 443; 1989 U.S. LEXIS 3120; 57 U.S.L.W. 4816; 16 Media L. Rep. 1801
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| Prior history | The Florida Star v. B.J.F., 530 So. 2d 286 (1988) Supreme Court of Florida; Florida Star v. B.J.F., 499 So. 2d 883 (1986) Fla. Dist. Court of Appeals |
| Holding | |
| Florida Stat. § 794.03 is unconstitutional to the extent it makes the truthful reporting of information that was a matter of public record unlawful, as it violates the First Amendment. | |
| Court membership | |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | Marshall, joined by Brennan, Blackmun, Stevens, Kennedy |
| Concurrence | Scalia |
| Dissent | White, joined by Rehnquist, O'Connor |
| Laws applied | |
| U.S. Const. amend. I | |
Florida Star v. B. J. F., 491 U.S. 524 (1989), is a United States Supreme Court case involving freedom of the press and privacy rights. After The Florida Star newspaper accidentally revealed the full name of a rape victim it got from a police report, the victim sued for damages. State law made it illegal for a publication to print a rape victim's name, and the victim was awarded damages. On appeal, the Supreme Court ruled the imposition of damages for truthfully publishing public information violates the First Amendment.
B.J.F. was a woman who reported to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office that she had been robbed and sexually assaulted. The Sheriff's Office put the details of what happened, including the victim's full name, in the general crime report for the county, which is placed in its press room and made available. A trainee reporter for The Florida Star, a local newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, copied the item verbatim. A Florida Star reporter then included the item in the October 29, 1983 issue of the paper, but erroneously included the victim's name in violation of the newspaper's internal policy not to identify rape victims.
On September 26, 1984, B.J.F. sued both the Sheriff's Office and the newspaper for violating Florida's shield law, Stat. § 794.03, which makes it unlawful to "print, publish, or broadcast... in any instrument of mass communication" the name of the victim of a sexual offense. The Sheriff's Office settled, paying the victim $2,500, but the newspaper would not. The trial court rejected the newspaper's defense that § 794.03 was unconstitutional, and the jury awarded B. J. F. $75,000 in compensatory damages and $25,000 in punitive damages.
The Florida First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court verdict, the Supreme Court of Florida denied discretionary review, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari.
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