Maine Man Says Police Threatened to Arrest Him for Drone Video of Neighbor’s House

“In order for someone to have a claim for wrongful invasion of privacy, there first has to be a reasonable expectation of privacy,” New England First Amendment Coalition President Gregory Sullivan said. “So pretty much anything that occurs in public is fair game.”

Sullivan said law enforcement officers are responsible for understanding the law completely and that officers who violate free speech rights can be held liable in civil court.

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Union Request to Livestream Hearing Highlights ‘Gray Area’ of Open Meetings Act

“This issue of quasi-judicial bodies is a gray area,” said Justin Silverman, executive director of the New England First Amendment Coalition.

“There has been a lot of litigation in other New England states about what constitutes quasi-judicial bodies, advisory bodies, and other public bodies that don’t fit squarely within each state’s open meetings act. It’s very fact specific.”

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Laconia Daily Sun Files Motion to Reconsider Ombudsman’s Rejection of Legal Fees

“The case was clear,” said Gregory V. Sullivan, a lawyer with Malloy and Sullivan, who has argued many right-to-know cases and is president of the New England First Amendment Coalition.

“The standard is whether the governmental agency knew or should have known that the documents should be provided,” he said. “The school district claimed that they weren’t aware of the current state of the law until after the complaint was filed with the ombudsman’s office, and then they complied with the request.”

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