Law360 this week quoted Sherman & Howard fourth-year associate John Melcon during his arguments before the Colorado Supreme Court in a case involving a defamation claim in a class-action lawsuit.

Here are excerpts from the article.

But the comments at the news conference weren’t just reciting the claims of the original complaint, said John T. Melcon of Sherman & Howard LLC, representing BKP. And the beauty parlor isn’t making the argument that the attorneys shouldn’t talk to the media at all, but that attorneys have to be careful because what they say at news conferences isn’t immune from scrutiny, he said.

“Lawyers of all people should be ones who can manage, when drafting press releases or preparing your remarks for a press conference, to know the boundaries imposed by the elements of defamation,” Melcon said.

…

The actual circumstances of this case suggest it wouldn’t take that long for the plaintiffs to get records about potential class members, Melcon said, noting that Ella Bliss also provided initial disclosures that included names and phone numbers within a few months of the complaint’s filing. Attorneys can also pursue conditional class certification or bifurcate discovery to get around those issues, he argued.

And just because some people might be more responsive to media outreach doesn’t mean that’s enough for litigation privilege to apply without limitations, he said.

“Attorney immunity does not apply anytime an attorney concludes that publicity would further the representation,” Melcon said.

For more, read the full article here.