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Lawsuit Proceeds Against NBC Over 'Dateline' Suicide
New York Law Journal
February 27, 2008
NBC cannot shake a lawsuit blaming it for the suicide of a Texas prosecutor and suspected pedophile while the cast and crew of its "Dateline" program were waiting outside his home to film his arrest by a police SWAT team.
Southern District of New York Judge Denny Chin Tuesday rejected the network's motion to dismiss the complaint brought by Patricia Conradt, the sister of Louis William Conradt Jr., who shot himself to death on Nov. 5, 2006.
Chin said that if the allegations in Conradt v. NBC Universal, 07 Civ. 6623, are proved true, a reasonable jury could find that "NBC crossed the line from responsible journalism to irresponsible and reckless intrusion into law enforcement."
Bruce Baron of Baron Associates in Brooklyn, who represents the Conradt family, said in an interview the decision "sends a strong message to law enforcement throughout this country: Never subcontract your uniform, badge and the oath you take."
A spokeswoman for NBC, however, said "the evidence will ultimately show that 'Dateline' acted responsibly and lawfully."
"We will continue to defend ourselves vigorously," said the spokeswoman, Jennifer Tartikoff. "The judge's ruling was based solely on the plaintiff's version of the facts. For purposes of this motion only, the judge was required, under the law, to accept the plaintiff's allegations as true."
"Dateline" was outside the house of Conradt, 56, to film his arrest for one of its "To Catch a Predator" segments. Since 2004, "Dateline" has worked with local police departments and an online watchdog group to provide "decoys" posing as teenagers to lure suspected sex abusers to so-called "sting houses."
Conradt had served for five terms as a district attorney in Kaufman County, Texas, and was an assistant prosecutor in Rockwell County, Texas, when he allegedly contacted a decoy who had been posing online as a 13-year-old boy.
Using this information, police obtained search and arrest warrants for Conradt. Police and "Dateline" cast and crew, including NBC News correspondent Chris Hansen, went to his home in the town of Terrell, Texas, on the afternoon of Nov. 5.
Members of the SWAT team went into the house through a back door and saw Conradt step into a room and say, "I'm not going to hurt anyone." He then shot himself with a handgun.
A police officer then reported the shooting on camera to Hansen and allegedly said to a "Dateline" producer, "That'll make good TV."
NBC aired an episode including the footage from the Conradt operation on Feb. 20, 2007, triggering a $100 million lawsuit by Conradt.
In its motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim upon which relief may be granted, NBC argued that it owed no duty to protect Conradt from killing himself and that its alleged conduct was not "extreme and dangerous" so as to meet the standard under Texas law for intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Judge Chin said he was dismissing many of Conradt's claims, but the principal claims survived.
"Rather than merely report on law enforcement's efforts to combat crime, NBC purportedly instigated and then placed itself squarely in the middle of a police operation, pushing police to engage in tactics that were unnecessary and unwise, solely to generate more dramatic footage for a television show," Chin said.
As an example, the judge said a jury could find "that there was no legitimate law enforcement need for a heavily armed SWAT team to extract a 56-year-old prosecutor from his home when he was not accused of actual violence and was not believed to have a gun, that this was done solely 'to sensationalize and enhance the entertainment value' of the arrest."
In declining to dismiss the emotional distress claim, the judge held that NBC "created a substantial risk of suicide or other harm, and that it engaged in conduct so outrageous and extreme that no civilized society should tolerate it."
He also refused to dismiss a Fourth Amendment claim, saying the complaint, if true, alleges more than passive involvement by NBC. Instead, he noted, it alleged that the "Dateline" crew "were involved in the planning, and that, indeed, they purportedly pushed the police officers into dramatizing their actions for the benefit of the television cameras."
Moreover, the complaint alleged that "Dateline" trespassed on the Conradt property. It also claimed that had the local judge known "Dateline" was involved, he would not have issued the arrest and search warrants.
Finally, Chin retained a civil rights claim under the Fourteenth Amendment.
Hilary Lane of NBC Universal Inc. and Amanda Leith and Lee Levine of Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz represent the network.
