Stewart v. Oklahoma Publishing Co. [1]

Dennis Stewart sued the Oklahoma Publishing Co. and others for publishing the Oklahoma Department of Corrections sex offender registry on NewsOK.com [2], a regional news website.  The registry incorrectly listed Stewart's address as associated with a registered offender who had previously lived at that address.  The complaint included claims for defamation and false light invasion of privacy. 

An Oklahoma jury awarded Stewart $200,000 in compensatory damages and $3.5 million in punitive damages. The defendants appealed, and the Court of Civil Appeals reversed the judgment, holding that the defendants could not be liable because the fair report privilege [3] covered publication of the sex offender registry.

According to the MLRC, NewsOK.com voluntarily removed the registry in February 2002 because of problems with out-of-date addresses in the data provided by the Department of Corrections.