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Decision of Note

By ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |
September 29, 2008

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit decided that NBC didn't breach the employment contract of a producer for the investigative TV series “Dateline” when it fired the producer at the end of a contract cycle. Bartel v. NBC Universal Inc., 07-3913.

Veteran reporter Marsha Bartel had been hired under a four-year contract to produce a “To Catch a Predator” segment in which online predators have been lured to supposed sexual encounters with minors, only to be arrested. The arrest incidents have been filmed and aired on “Dateline.” After Bartel refused to produce the segment on the ground that it violated NBC's ethical guidelines, NBC fired her, citing budget cutbacks. (One “Predator” episode resulted in a pre-trial settlement this year of a $105 million suit against NBC by the family of a Texas prosecutor who committed suicide as he was about to be arrested on camera.)

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