Constand v. Cosby — civil / justiciability — dismissal — Ambro

Sometimes I can’t summarize a case more clearly than the opinion does itself. The problem occurs frequently with Ambro opinions. To wit:

William H. Cosby, Jr., appeals the District Court’s order unsealing certain documents that reveal damaging admissions he made in a 2005 deposition regarding his sexual behavior. There was no stay of that order, and the contents of the documents received immediate and wide publicity. While the parties dispute whether the District Court properly balanced the public and private interests at stake in unsealing the documents, we must decide at the outset whether Cosby’s appeal has become moot due to the public disclosure of their contents. The Associated Press (the “AP”) argues in favor of mootness because resealing the documents after they have already become public will have no effect. Cosby claims this is not the case for two primary reasons, as resealing the documents would (1) at least slow the dissemination of their contents and (2) might affect whether they can be used against him in other litigation. For the reasons that follow, we conclude that the appeal is moot.

Interestingly, the opinion relies in part on the results of a Google search performed the Friday before the opinion issued, including what looks to me like the first-ever circuit citation to Deadspin.

The court in a footnote expressed “serious reservations” about the district court’s reasoning that unsealing the documents was supported by Cosby’s image as a “public moralist,” a phrase the court described as “vague and undefined” and having “no basis in our jurisprudence.”

Joining Ambro were Smith and Krause. Arguing counsel were George Gowen III of Cozen O’Connor for Cosby and Gayle Sproul of Levine Sullivan for AP.

Raab v. Ocean City — civil / attorney’s fees — reverse in part — Chagares

A two-judge Third Circuit panel today held that a settling civil-rights plaintiff can be a prevailing party eligible to recover attorney’s fees where the district court dismissed the suit sua sponte in an order incorporating and retaining jurisdiction over the private settlement, even though the district court entered no consent decree and apparently did not review the settlement before entering its order.

Joining Chagares was Restrepo; Van Antwerpen was on the panel when the case was orally argued but died before the opinion issued. Arguing counsel were Paul Rizzo of DiFrancesco Bateman for the plaintiff, A. Michael Barker of Barker Gelfand for one defendant, and Thomas Reynolds of Reynolds & Horn for another defendant.