Michael McMenamin

Areas Of Emphasis

First Amendment and Media Defense

Mr. McMenamin's media litigation experience includes the following cases:

• Obtained a unanimous jury verdict for a Cleveland television station in a three-week trial involving claims of libel, fraud, and invasion of privacy arising out of a hidden camera investigation into furnace repair scams. AAA All City Heating, Air Conditioning, and Home Improvement, et al. v. New World Communications of Ohio, Inc., et al., Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Court of Common Pleas, Case No. 369034 (2003).
  
  
• Obtained Writ of Prohibition from Ohio Court of Appeals on behalf of a Cleveland television station against a trial court judge who had issued an unconstitutional prior restraint on the broadcast of a news story on a civil case pending in the trial court. State of Ohio, ex rel., New World Communications of Ohio, Inc. v. Hon. Carl J. Character, Court of Appeals Case No. 06849.
  
  
• Defended national magazine in libel action brought by former Cleveland mayor over story involving allegations of financial mismanagement and padded payrolls. Summary judgment granted for defendant. Sustained on appeal. Perk v. The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 931 F.2d 408 (6th Cir. 1991).
  
  
• Defended national wire service organization in libel action brought by prominent local attorney over story involving disciplinary action. Summary judgment granted for defendant. Spittal v. Associated Press, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Case No. 91-CV- 2477.
  
  
• Helped obtain award of $10,000 in sanctions under federal vexatious litigation statute and Court's inherent authority against Cleveland business that claimed in multiple actions it was defamed in article appearing in Turkish paper distributed in the United States. Cleveland Trencher Co. v. Hurriyet Gazetecilik, et al., United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Case No. 96-CV-1354.
  
  
• Defended Cleveland television station in libel-related RICO action brought in federal court by disgruntled local businessman over adverse Better Business Bureau Report broadcast by station. Summary judgment granted for defendant. Sustained on appeal. Musa, et al., v. Gillett Communications of Ohio, Inc., et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Case No. 92-CV-1528; U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Case No. 93-3518.
  
  
• Defended national cable news organization and its president in simultaneous federal and state court actions. Successfully settled after summary judgment motions filed. Bennafield v. Cable News Network and Ted Turner, Stark County Common Pleas Court, Case No. C86-974, and Bennafield v. Cable News Network, et al., U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Eastern Division, Case No. C85-2110A.
  
  
• Defended copyright infringement action brought against producer and distributor of the motion picture Titanic. Sharon A. Vild v. James Cameron, et al., U.S. District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division, Case No. 1:99 CV 976.
  
  
• Defended national publisher in Lanham Act litigation brought by professional golfer, Tiger Woods., ETW Corp. v. Crown Publishing, U.S. District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division, Case No. 1:98 CV 1952.
  
  
• Defended national cable television network in copyright infringement action. Ron Kuntz v. Arts & Entertainment Television network, et al., U.S. District Court, N.D. Ohio, Eastern Division, Case No. 1:99 CV 938.
  
  
• Mr. McMenamin is the co-author of the Ohio chapter of the annual Media Law Resource Center's 50-State Survey on Media Privacy and Related Law.
  
  
• Mr. McMenamin is a contributing editor of Reason magazine and writes frequently on First Amendment, free trade, antitrust, employment, civil liberties and other public policy issues for it and a variety of other publications including The Wall Street Journal. He is the co-author of a book on the political scandals of the dairy lobby during the 1970s, and two of his articles were selected as finalists for the Free Press Association's H. L. Mencken Awards.
  
  
• Mr. McMenamin also writes for Finest Hour, the quarterly journal of The Churchill Centre in Washington, D.C. His book Becoming Winston Churchill: The Untold Story of Young Winston and His American Mentor, Bourke Cockran will be published in the U.S. and U.K. by Harcourt Publishers in 2007.

Education

University of Pennsylvania Law School, LL.B., 1968
Case Western Reserve University, B.A. (with honors), 1965

Licensed to Practice

• All Ohio courts
• U.S. District court (Northern District of Ohio)
• U.S. Court of Appeals (Third Circuit) (Fourth Circuit) (Fifth Circuit) (Sixth Circuit) (D.C. Circuit)
• U.S. Supreme Court
• Pro Hac Vice admissions in state and federal courts in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin

Areas of Practice