Appeals Court Denies Dismissal in Photo Case

A California appeals court has denied a request by a former California Highway Patrol (CHP) comm center supervisor to be removed from a civil lawsuit alleging he emailed grisly evidence photos of an accident victim to other people, eventually reaching the victim’s family. Nicole Catsouras, 18, crashed her parents Porsche into a toll booth at high speed and was killed in Oct. 2006. Catsouras’ family filed a lawsuit against the CHP and Aaron Reich. The agency investigated the incident and took photos of the scene, including of Catsouras’ body. Reich admits to obtaining the photos through official channels and emailing them to family and friends, but contends the emails included a warning about the dangers of drunk driving. Therefore, Reich’s attorney argued, his client’s distribution of the photos was protected “free speech.” Reich later erased all the emails at the direction of his CHP superiors. A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeal pointed out that Reich failed to present any of the emails for the court’s evaluation. Therefore, the court ruled, it could not rule if the emails were protected under certain sections of the state’s Civil Code. The court left open the possibility of someone finding and presenting the emails for future court review. Absent that, the civil case against Reich and former supervisor Thomas O’Donnell now goes back to a lower court for trial. Download the appeals court decision here, and a 2010 appeal here. Read more about the decision here.