[W]ritten by 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Edward E. Carnes, the ruling would compel attorneys defending SI's parent company, Time Inc., to tell the court if writer Don Yaeger's sources lie under oath to shield either their identities or the degree to which they contributed to Yaeger's story.
Time Inc.'s Alabama lawyer -- Bradley Arant Rose & White partner Gary C. Huckaby -- acknowledged Monday that the 11th Circuit's decision in Price v. Time, 04-13027, potentially means that a media lawyer's role as an officer of the court may trump his client's First Amendment news-gathering privilege by forcing that lawyer, in some instances, to identify a media client's confidential source.
"You could say it puts an attorney in that position," Huckaby said of the ruling, which he described as "troubling."
I'll say. Details here from the Fulton County Daily Report via Law.com. Or you can read the Court's opinion in Price v. Time, Inc.