LawFuel – Celebrity Trial – Howard K Stern, the former partner of Anna Nicole Smith, has reportedly hired Lin Wood, the lawyer who represented Patsy and John Ramsey, to sue media members who accused Stern of committing homicide and other offenses, according to TMZ.com
The website reported that a retainer had been signed. “Uber-aggressive” Wood is to file lawsuits against certain members of the media.
In the Ramsey case, Wood filed numerous defamation claims against media outlets, including Time, Court TV, FOX News and others, for pointing a guilty finger at his clients.
Wood has commented on various occasions about the ‘media frenzy’ surrounding celebrity trials.
Here’s what Powell Goldstein’s website says about Lin Wood:
Mr. Wood has been the lead attorney in many national, high profile cases, including serving as:
lead civil attorney for Richard Jewell in matters arising out of reporting about Mr. Jewell in connection with the 1996 bombing of Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta
lead trial attorney for SunTrust Bank in pending litigation arising out of claims by trust beneficiaries related to an inheritance of Coca-Cola stock
lead trial attorney for the City of Atlanta in pending litigation in which the City is seeking to recover hotel/motel tax revenues from online travel companies, including Hotels.com, Expedia and Orbitz.
lead attorney for John and Patsy Ramsey and their son in matters relating to the 1996 murder of JonBenét Ramsey in Boulder, Colorado
attorney for former U. S. Congressman Gary Condit in matters relating to the May 2001 abduction and murder of Chandra Levy in Washington
co-counsel in the civil actions in Colorado against Kobe Bryant
lead counsel for Griffin Industries, Inc. in a class action pending in Atlanta, Georgia dealing with environmental issues
lead counsel for MedQuest Associates, Inc. and J.P. Morgan Partners, L.L.C. in a class action in Atlanta, Georgia dealing with healthcare issues
lead counsel for AirTran Airlines, Inc. in defamation litigation against the Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, The Plain Dealer
Mr. Wood is a regularly featured speaker on cutting edge legal issues and concerns. Recent speeches, panel appearances and seminars include:
ICJE Superior Court Judges Summer Conference, St. Simons, Georgia Legitimate Lawyer Expectations of the Presiding Judge in High Profile Cases, (July, 2006).
The National Crime Victim Bar Association Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., Representing High Profile Victims of Flawed Investigations, (May, 2006).
Product Liability Seminar, ICLE, Public Relations in Product Liability Litigation: Crisis or Opportunity, (April, 2006).
Mark Luchinsky Memorial Lecturer, The Schreyer Honors College & The College of Communications, Pennsylvania State University, (January, 2006).
2005 Brintech Bank Executives Forum in Las Vegas, Nevada, Managing the Media, (May, 2005).
ICJE Superior Court Judges Summer Conference in St. Simons, Georgia, The Current Status of American Defamation Litigation, (July, 2005).
2005 Brintech Bank Holding Company Idea Exchange, Managing Public and Media Perception, Reynolds Plantation, (September, 2005).
Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, First Amendment Summit, The New Media Era: Its Impact on Reputation, Atlanta, (October, 2005).
2002 Georgia Tech Executive Round Table Student Faculty Industry Conference, Ethical Roles and Responsibilities of the Media, (April, 2002).
National Association of Legal Secretaries 50th Annual Education Conference & National Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii, (October, 2001).
Houston Bar Association’s seminar, Media and the Law in Houston, Texas, (February, 2000).
American Bar Association Litigation Section’s annual meeting in Washington, D.C., The Media — and Media Law — Under Fire, (April, 1997).
American Society of Newspaper Editors convention in Washington, D.C., Innocent until reported guilty? (April, 1997).
Successful Trial Practice, ICLE, False Accusations From Flawed Investigation, (November, 2005).
Successful Trial Practice, ICLE, David Taking On Goliath: Taking on the Media in the High Profile Case, (February, 2005).
Proving Damages, ICLE, Handling the High Profile Case, (March, 2004).
Successful Trial Practice, ICLE, Libel: Pitfalls for the Unwary, (January, 2000).
Mr. Wood is currently a Vice-Chair of the Media Law and Defamation Torts Committee of the ABA Tort and Insurance Practice Section. He is the author of The Case of David v. Goliath: Jewell v. NBC and the Basics of Defamacast in Georgia, 7 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT . L.J. 673 (1997), co-author along with Corey Fleming Hirokawa of Shot By the Messenger: Rethinking Media Liability for Violence Induced by Extremely Violent Publications and Broadcasts, 27 N. KY. L. REV . 47 (2000), and author of Litigating in the Court of Public Opinion, ABA Media, Privacy and Defamation Committee Newsletter, Spring 2004.
On behalf of his clients, Mr. Wood has made numerous national television and radio appearances, including appearances on NBC’s The Today Show, CBS’ 60 Minutes and 60 Minutes II, Larry King Live, The Oprah Winfrey Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CBS’ The Early Show, CNN’s American Morning, MSNBC’s The Abrams Report, Imus in the Morning and Hardball, Court TV, and the CBS, NBC and ABC evening news programs.
Mr. Wood was profiled in the cover article of the January, 1998, issue of Atlanta magazine, on the July 12, 2000, broadcast of NBC’s The Today Show and in the cover article of the November 27, 2000, issue of Editor & Publisher magazine. Mr. Wood was recognized as a Notable Georgian in the January, 2002, issue of Georgia Trend magazine. Mr. Wood was recognized in the August, 2004, and September, 2005, Atlanta Business Chronicle list of Who’s Who in Law and was recognized in 2005 as a Georgia Super Lawyer in Law & Politics magazine and Atlanta magazine. Mr. Wood was recognized in 2006 as one of The Top 100 Georgia Super Lawyers in Law & Politics magazine and Atlanta magazine and was the subject of a separate profile article in Law & Politics.
Mr. Wood is the subject of an article published in the Fordham Intellectual Property, Media & Entertainment Law Journal, entitled “Suing the News Media in the Age of Tabloid Journalism: L. Lin Wood and the Battle for Accountability,” 16 FORDHAM INTELL. PROP. MEDIA & ENT. L.J. 467 (2006).
