Libel, print publications, and sealed court records.

[SackAttack]

Just curious, here. Kobe's lawyers have obtained a temporary injunction keeping his statements to police sealed. Sports Illustrated claims to have obtained a copy of that sealed statement, and has printed summaries of its contents here:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...x.html?cnn=yes

What I'm curious about is, let's say the statement remains permanently sealed. Could Kobe seek legal action against SI for violating the injunction, and if so, would that open SI up to potential libel charges, or simply contempt of court?

[Crapshoot]

Seriously- I wish SI and ESPN would leave it the fuck alone. But that's just me- they create the sagas, then moan about it.

[SackAttack]

Agreed. It just seems to me that what they're doing by posting that story is violating the spirit, if not the fact, of the injunction, and I wonder what the potential penalties are that they'd go ahead and print it anyway.

[Samdari]

Originally Posted by Aadik

Seriously- I wish SI and ESPN would leave it the fuck alone. But that's just me- they create the sagas, then moan about it.

Ummm, Kobe Bryant created this saga.

SI, ESPN and many other media organizations have used questionable judgement in covering the story, yes, but they did not create the story. If Kobe does not do what he does, there is no overzealous coverage.

EDIT: And I don't think that media organizations should leave this alone. I read some things (mostly including excerpts of his police interview) just after the case was dismissed, and some media orgaizations mistook that as free reign to break the gag order, that have left me convinced he raped her. I am not going to try to convince everyone that is the case, but I think people who have interest in the case should have access to the information.