Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

A party in a divorce action who seeks to compel a journalist to turn over information or documents must meet an extraordinary burden.

So held New York County Supreme Court Justice Donna M. Mills in an August 21, 2014 decision Matter of Hamm (Zuckerman).

Petitioner, Sue Ann Hamm, and her husband, Harold Hamm, are parties to an Oklahoma divorce action. By this application, Ms. Hamm sought to enforce a subpoena issued to New-York based journalist Gregory Zuckerman of the Wall Street Journal, author of the book, The Frackers: The Outrageous Inside Story of the New Billionare Wildcatters, in which Mr. Hamm is featured. Mr. Zuckerman cross-moved to quash the subpoena and for a protective order preventing Ms. Hamm from deposing him and obtaining the materials demanded.

According to Wikipedia, in 2012 Hamm was ranked by Forbes magazine as the 30th richest person in America and 76th richest person in the world, with a net worth estimated at $11 billion, a figure increased to $17 billion in early 2014. In 2012, presidential candidate Mitt Romney named Hamm as his energy advisor, and thereafter Hamm made substantial monetary and advisory contributions to the election effort.

Here, Ms. Hamm sought documents and testimony from Zuckerman about topics in the book, arguing that Mr. Zuckerman had unique insight and knowledge concerning a pivotal issue in the divorce case of whether or not Mr. Hamm’s efforts, skills or expended funds contributed to the value of the marital estate. Ms. Hamm provided the Court with excerpts from the book which indicated that it was based on interviews with numerous witnesses, including her husband, who had personal knowledge of material facts about those contributions.Continue Reading Journalist Privilege Precludes Divorce Action Discovery From Author