TLo convinces NY District Court to quash document subpoena directed at freelance journalist
Agreeing with arguments made by Thomas & LoCicero attorneys, and applying both Florida and New York law, the District Court for the Southern District of New York recognized that a journalist’s notes, interviews, and other newsgathering materials are protected from discovery under the journalist’s privilege. Thus, the NY Court issued a thorough and detailed order quashing a document subpoena directed to the journalist. The decision is available at 2025 WL 733258 (S.D.N.Y. Mar. 7, 2025).
The subpoena arose from a defamation case pending in the Southern District of Florida (the “Florida Litigation”). In the Florida Litigation, the Plaintiff claimed that an online article published by the Defendant, Journalism Development Network (“JDN”), and authored by a freelance journalist named Lily Dobrovolskaya, was false and defamatory. The Plaintiff originally named Dobrovolskaya as a Defendant in the Florida Litigation but failed to serve her with the Complaint. Ultimately, she was dismissed with prejudice from the Florida Litigation. TLo represented both JDN and Dobrovolskaya.
During discovery in the Florida Litigation, the Plaintiff issued a subpoena to Dobrovolskaya in New York, where she resides, seeking a wide range of documents. The parties agreed to narrow the scope of the subpoena, but Dobrovolskaya still objected to it and filed a motion to quash, maintaining that the materials sought – recordings of interviews with confidential sources, pre-publication communications with the Miami Herald, correspondence with a blogger, and documents relating to a “tweet” that Dobrovolskaya posted after the article was published – were protected both by New York law, which Dobrovolskaya argued applied, and also by Florida law, which the Plaintiff maintained was applicable.
In response to the motion to quash, the NY District Court asked Dobrovolskaya whether she would consent, under Federal Rule 45, to transferring the motion to the Southern District of Florida for resolution. Despite the fact that NY courts typically transfer motions to quash to the court overseeing the underlying litigation, TLo objected on behalf of Dobrovolskaya and convinced the NY Court to rule on the motion to quash.
Having retained the motion for decision, the NY District Court ultimately agreed with all of Dobrovolskaya’s arguments. Regarding the confidential recordings, the Court held that New York law applied and that the recordings were absolutely privileged. Moreover, the Court ruled that even if Florida law applied, the Plaintiff had not overcome Florida’s qualified privilege protecting journalist’s sources. With respect to the remaining categories of documents, the Court again agreed with Dobrovolskaya and TLo and rejected the Plaintiff’s “bald assertions” that the materials sought were highly relevant, or critical to the Plaintiff’s claims, or unavailable from other sources. Accordingly, it quashed the subpoena in its entirety.
Thomas & LoCicero lawyers Dana McElroy, James McGuire, and Daniela Abratt-Cohen represented Dobrovolskaya and Journalism Development Network. Rachel Strom of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP also represented Dobrovolskaya in New York. The New York case is styled Dobrovolskaya v. Monarch Air Group, LLC, No. 1:25-mc-0032 (JLR) (S.D.N.Y.). The Florida Litigation is styled Monarch Air Group, LLC v. Journalism Development Network, Inc., No. 23-cv-61256 (S.D. Fla.).
With offices in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale, Thomas & LoCicero is a Florida-based firm with a national practice focused on Media and Free Speech, Business Litigation, and Intellectual Property & Marketing. Clients benefit from the firm’s extensive knowledge and experience in defamation, complex commercial litigation, business torts, breach of contract, antitrust and unfair competition, invasion of privacy, trademark, and copyright.
