Connecticut State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin
| Decision Date | 03 November 1976 |
| Docket Number | No. 048532,048532 |
| Court | Connecticut Superior Court |
| Parties | , 2 Media L. Rep. 1765 CONNECTICUT STATE BOARD OF LABOR RELATIONS v. Stephen E. FAGIN. |
Carl R. Ajello, Atty. Gen., and Robert W. Murphy, Asst. Atty. Gen., for plaintiff.
Francis F. McGuire, New London, for defendant.
The plaintiff has applied to this court pursuant to General Statutes § 31-108 for an order requiring the defendant, a newspaper reporter, to answer a certain question posed to him as a witness during a hearing before the plaintiff. The hearing involved the charge against the town of Stonington of an unfair labor practice related to the discharge of a police officer who was president of the police union. The defendant had written a newspaper article, published two days before the proceeding of the board of police commissioners which resulted in the discharge of the officer, which stated that the board was expected to recommend dismissal of the officer. At the unfair labor practice hearing, counsel for the union asked the defendant whether the board of police commissioners of Stonington was the source of his information about the expected action of the board. The defendant refused to answer the question although the chairman of the plaintiff agency ruled that the question was relevant and directed him to answer it.
The question presented by this application is whether a newspaper reporter has any privilege, constitutional or otherwise, to refuse to disclose the source of information which he may have received in confidence.
A few peripheral issues may be disposed of briefly. The claim of the defendant that he was under no compulsion to answer because the subpoena served upon him was not in proper form, having been unsigned, might have prevailed if he had not in fact taken the witness stand and testified. The defendant must be deemed to have waived any deficiencies in the subpoena at the point in his testimony where the question at issue was asked. State v. Kemp,126 Conn. 60, 74, 9 A.2d 63. Section 31-108, clearly makes 'contumacy' as well as 'refusal to obey a subpoena' a ground for seeking relief in this court.
The plaintiff claims that, since the question posed to the defendant asked whether the borad of police commissioners was the source of his information and did not refer to any particular individual as the source, the case does not deal strictly with the issue of a newsman's privilege to withhold his source. Although the number of individuals comprising the Stonington board of police commissioners does not appear in the record, if there is such a privilege as claimed, it cannot be whittled down in this fashion to narrow the possibilities. Constitutional privileges where they exist have been traditionally accorded a broad scope commensurate with their purposes. Malloy v. Hogan, 378 U.S. 1, 11, 84 S.Ct. 1489, 12 L.Ed.2d 653.
In Branzburg v. Hayes, 408 U.S. 665, 92 S.Ct. 2646, 33 L.Ed.2d 626, the plurality opinion of the Supreme Court, signed by four members, rejected the assertion by newsmen of a constitutional privilege not to disclose the confidential sources of information pertaining to the commission of crimes being investigated by grand juries. A dictum in that opinion (p. 700, 92 S.Ct. p. 2666) indicating that the test of the availability of such a privilege may be 'a substantial relation between the information sought and a subject of overriding and compelling state interest' permits an inference that a limited...
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Senear v. Daily Journal American
...373 A.2d 644 (1977); Goldfeld v. Post Publ. Co., 4 Med.L.Rptr. 1167 (Conn.Super.Ct.1978); Connecticut State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin, 33 Conn.Sup. 204, 370 A.2d 1095 (Conn.Super.Ct. 1976); Rancho La Costa, Inc. v. Penthouse Int'l, Ltd., 4 Med.L.Rptr. 1564 (Cal.Super.Ct.1978). The dec......
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Tofani v. State
...1299 (M.D.Fla.1975); Democratic National Committee v. McCord, 356 F.Supp. 1394 (D.D.C.1973); Connecticut State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin, 33 Conn.Sup. 204, 370 A.2d 1095 (1976) (administrative hearing); Winegard v. Oxberger, 258 N.W.2d 847 (Iowa 1977), cert. denied, 436 U.S. 905, 98 S......
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Prince George's County v. Hartley
...1299 (M.D.Fla.1975); Democratic National Committee v. McCord, 356 F.Supp. 1394 (D.D.C.1973); Connecticut State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin, 33 Conn.Supp. 204, 370 A.2d 1095 (1976); Winegard v. Oxberger, 258 N.W.2d 847 (Iowa 1977), cert. denied, 436 U.S. 905, 98 S.Ct. 2234, 56 L.Ed.2d 40......
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The New York Times Co. v. Gonzales
...(civil); Wisconsin v. Knops, 49 Wis.2d 647, 183 N.W.2d 93, 99 (1971) (grand jury). 38. See Connecticut State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin, 33 Conn.Supp. 204, 370 A.2d 1095, 1097-98 (1976) (civil); Pope v. Village Apartments, Ltd., No. 92-71-436 CV (Miss. 1st Cir.Ct. Jan. 23, 1995) (unpub......
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The underprivileged profession: the case for Supreme Court recognition of the journalist's privilege.
...(123) The following cases, drawn from state appellate courts, have recognized the privilege: Conn. State Bd. of Labor Relations v. Fagin, 370 A.2d 1095, 1097 (Conn. Super. Ct. 1976) ("[T]he public interest in non-disclosure of a journalist's confidential sources [sometimes] outweighs the pu......