TORY v. COCHRAN

Legal Principle at Issue

Whether a permanent injunction as a remedy in a defamation action, preventing all future speech about an admitted public figure, violates the First Amendment.

Action

Vacated and remanded. Petitioning party received a favorable disposition.

Facts/Syllabus

Johnnie Cochran brought a state-law defamation action against petitioner Ulysses Tory. According to a California trial court, Tory (with the help of petitioner Ruth Craft and others) had engaged in unlawful defamatory activity by falsely claiming that Cochran owed them money. Petitioners complained to the local bar association, sent Cochran threatening letters demanding $10 million, picketed Cochran's office holding up signs containing various insults and obscenities, and pursued Cochran while chanting similar threats and insults. The trial court concluded Tory's claim that Cochran owed him money was without foundation, that Tory engaged in a continuous pattern of libelous and slanderous activity, and that Tory had used false and defamatory speech to "coerce" Cochran into paying "amounts of money to which Tory was not entitled" as a "tribute" or a "premium" for "desisting" from this libelous and slanderous activity. 

After noting that Tory had indicated that he would continue to engage in this activity in the absence of a court order, the Superior Court issued a permanent injunction. The injunction, among other things, prohibited Tory, Craft, and their "agents" or "representatives" from "picketing," from "displaying signs, placards or other written or printed material," and from "orally uttering statements" about Johnnie L. Cochran, Jr., and about Cochran's law firm in "any public forum." Tory and Craft appealed, and the California Court of Appeal affirmed. 

Tory and Craft then filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court. After oral argument, Cochran’s counsel informed the Court of Cochran’s recent death and moved to substitute Johnnie Cochran’s widow, Sylvia Dale Mason Cochran, as respondent, and suggested that we dismiss the case as moot. Tory and Craft filed a response agreeing to the substitution of Ms. Cochran but denied that the case was moot.