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Press Freedom Project

The Press Freedom Project is a program of the UCI Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic. The Project was founded in Spring 2018 to provide free legal services to California’s independent journalists, non-profit news organizations, journalism groups, and press advocacy groups. 

The Project is headed by nationally known First Amendment and media law specialist Susan Seager, who was awarded the 2022 Los Angeles Press Club’s Guardian Award for Contributions to Press Freedom for her work at the Project.

To learn more, visit the Press Freedom Project website.

The Project provides a range of legal services, including:

• Pre-publication review and counseling
• Filing and litigating requests for police and other government records under the California Public Records Act and Freedom of Information Act 
• Filing motions to unseal civil and criminal court records
• Filing motions to unseal juvenile court records
• Filing civil rights lawsuits on behalf of journalists and photojournalists who are wrongfully arrested, jailed, and/or hurt by law enforcement
• Litigating against gag orders and other judicial or governmental actions that constrain freedom of the press
• Respond to cease-and-desist letters against journalists 

Recent Work

As of spring 2024, the Press Freedom Project has won a court order in Knock LA v. County of Los Angeles, requiring the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department to disclose its secret investigation of a deputy who shot another deputy’s ankle in a reported “deputy gang” dispute. In City of Los Angeles v. Camacho, students are defending independent Los Angeles journalist Ben Camacho, who has been sued by the City of Los Angeles for publishing photographs of 9,000 Los Angeles police officers – even though the City voluntarily turned over the photos pursuant to the California Public Records Act – based on the claim that the photos include some photos of undercover officers. The City is asking for a court order banning Mr. Camacho from publishing any of the 9,000 photos in the future. Clinic students are arguing that the City’s demand violates the First Amendment.

Other Projects

The team has provided legal assistance to a variety of clients on an array of projects, including the following:

• Won a published California Court of Appeal decision on June 27, 2022 ordering a juvenile court to reconsider independent journalist Garrett Therolf’s motion to unseal the juvenile case file of a girl who was tortured and murdered by her adoptive mother in 2014. The Court of Appeal ruled in Garrett Therolf v. Superior Court that the juvenile court violated a state law by denying Garrett’s motion without holding a hearing or allowing Garrett to file a reply brief. A new hearing is expected later this summer in this case and two companion cases.
• Forced the City of Ana to disclose police body cam footage and other police records by suing the city for violating the California Public Records Act. The clinic’s client, independent journalist Ben Camacho, used the records to write an April 22, 2022 article for Knock LA revealing that a group of officers in the department appear to have formed a gang, complete with gang tattoos, and allegedly groped a teenager girl while off-duty at a restaurant. 
• Forced the County of Los Angeles to disclose records of some fatal shootings by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies and concealed weapons permits with written requests and by suing the county for violating the California Public Records Act. The clinic’s client, Knock LA, used the records to publish an article about a deputy who shot and killed two black men in separate shootings.  
• Won disclosure of settlement documents for nearly 700 misconduct lawsuits against the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department and Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office as part of a settlement of a California Public Records Act lawsuit on behalf of Prison Legal News. 
• Filed civil rights lawsuit, Unzueta v. County of Los Angeles, in U.S. District Court against the County of Los Angeles and Sheriff Alex Villanueva for the wrongful arrest, jailing, and strip-searching of photojournalist Pablo Unzueta by sheriff’s deputies on September 8, 2020. Deputies also wrongfully confiscating his camera, cell phone, and memory card, and the latter was never returned.
• Filed a civil rights lawsuit, Peltz v. City of Los Angeles, against the City of Los Angeles and Police Chief Michel Moore for the wrongful arrest of Knock LA editor Kate Gallagher and Jonathan Peltz when they were covering the protests and the eviction of the homeless from Echo Park Lake. 
• Won court order vacating gag order against T.J. Esposito, an independent Latino journalist in Bakersfield.

The Project is funded in large part by a grant from the Legal Clinic Fund for Local News.

Please inquire!

If you are interested in learning more about the work of the Intellectual Property, Arts, and Technology Clinic, please visit our practice areas page and our testimonials page.  You can also peruse our updates on our work with journalists. And if you are interested in seeking legal services from IPAT’s Press Freedom Project, please visit our inquiry page.

In the News

• The Daily Journal: California’s dirty secret: Clean-record deals kept badcops on the job*
  Prof. Susan Seager and the Press Freedom Project were highlighted in an opinion piece in The Daily Journal about clean-record agreements.
• Los Angeles Times: City of Los Angeles Agrees to Drop Lawsuit Against UC Irvine School of Law Press Freedom Project Client Ben Camacho
  Adjunct Prof. Susan Seager, head of the Press Freedom Project, comments in The Los Angeles Times on the significance of this victory for press freedom. The city sued Ben for publishing thousands of officers’ pictures that the city had itself provided in response to a public records request.
• The Guardian: University of Georgia pulls out of ‘Cop City’ lawsuit requesting public records
  UCI Law Adjunct Prof. Susan Seager criticized the university’s decision to halt its First Amendment Clinic’s public records work, emphasizing the importance of university resources in informing the public about the actions of a powerful police organization.
• Los Angeles Times: Detention of independent journalist and activists at UCLA draws outcry over press freedom
  UCI Law Adjunct Prof. Susan Seager called Beckner-Carmitchel’s detention illegal — including under a recent California law expanding journalists’ rights at protests — and demanded his release.
• Los Angeles Press: Lawsuit reveals details of LASD deputy shooting off colleague’s tattoo
  Prof. Susan E. Seager commented in Los Angeles Press on a lawsuit filed by Press Freedom Project client Knock LA to obtain internal investigatory files from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
• The Los Angeles Times: Journalist seeks dismissal of lawsuit over photos of LAPD officers
  Adjunct Prof. Susan Seager, head of UCI Law’s Press Freedom Project, comments in the Los Angeles Times on lawsuit over LAPD photo publication via reporter Ben Camacho 
• Los Angeles Daily News: Journalist asks court to dismiss lawsuit over released LAPD public records
  Head of the Press Freedom Project Susan Seager comments in the Los Angeles Daily News on journalist lawsuit over LAPD photos