‘Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions et al.’: Lawsuit Threatening Expansion of Sexual Harassment Codes

Case Materials

• "Victory for Free Speech in Crucial ‘Lyle’ Decision," April 24, 2006: Last weekend’s Wall Street Journal included an editorial by FIRE cofounder and director Harvey Silverglate about an important legal victory for free speech. In Lyle v. Warner Brothers, the makers of the Friends television show were sued for sexual harassment by a scriptwriters’ assistant who heard bawdy banter during the comedy writers’ meetings. FIRE joined an amicus brief in Lyle, opposing the lower court’s decision to let the case go forward. Silverglate explains why the California Supreme Court’s decision that this was not sexual harassment is good news for freedom of speech, especially on our nation’s college campuses.
• "FIRE Joins Amicus Brief in ‘Friends’ Writers’ Case," FIRE Press Release, February 10, 2005: Since June 2004, FIRE has been part of a national coalition urging the California Supreme Court to reverse a state appellate court decision that has profoundly chilling implications for free speech. The coalition members, including higher education as well as entertainment and advertising groups, are concerned that an adverse decision in Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions et al. would redefine a great deal of constitutionally protected expression as unprotected "harassment" and have frightening consequences for free speech on college and university campuses.
• "FIRE Joins Amicus Letter to California Supreme Court; National Coalition Opposes Chilling of Free Speech," FIRE Press Release, June 17, 2004: FIRE has joined a national coalition urging the California Supreme Court to reverse a lower court decision that has profoundly chilling implications for free speech. The amicus letter asks the court to overturn an appellate decision which could be used on college and university campuses to redefine a great deal of constitutionally protected expression as unprotected "harassment."
• "Amicus Letter - Lyle v. Warner Brothers Television Productions et al.," June 16, 2004: FIRE joined with the National Association of Scholars, the Center for Individual Rights, and several concerned California law professors in submitting this amicus letter to the California Supreme Court. The letter was written by attorney Frederic D. Cohen of Horvitz & Levy, LLP, in Encino, California. In Lyle, a writer's assistant for the television show "Friends" claimed that the bawdy banter of the writers on the show constituted sexual harassment even though the banter was not directed at her.

Media Coverage

• "On Point," Vincent Carroll, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colo.), April 26, 2006: Harvey Silverglate, director of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, believes the decision has particular relevance for college campuses.
• "Among Friends," Harvey Silverglate, The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2006: Opponents of another plague on free speech -- campus "harassment codes" aimed at penalizing student speech that might annoy a fellow student on the basis of race, gender and sexual orientation -- also found unexpected encouragement in Lyle. If a court widely deemed one of the nation's most hostile to free speech could recognize the need to protect robust and even obnoxious speech in a "creative workplace," shouldn't universities, by virtue of their truth-seeking mission, enjoy the highest degree of freedom from censorship, and campus harassment codes that regulate speech be abolished?
• "‘Lyle’ Portends Life Without Freedom, ‘Friends,’ ‘Seinfeld’," Greg Lukianoff, Daily Journal, March 10, 2005: Every year when I attend a national conference of administrators for America's colleges and universities, one message comes through loud and clear: claims of harassment, sexual or otherwise, are out of control.
• "What Would Rachel Say?," Harvey Silverglate, Wall Street Journal, August 4, 2004: Free speech "paranoids" have long warned that sexual harassment law is mushrooming out of control. Well, that fear has just been vindicated in an episode that's as bizarre as it is disconcerting. Scriptwriters for the TV series "Friends" are being sued, successfully so far, for -- get this -- engaging in bawdy banter while devising script ideas for the sit-com.
• "Top court to hear 'Friends' harassment case: Was foul language 'creative necessity'?," Bob Egelko, San Francisco Chronicle, July 22, 2004: The final review of the long-running TV series "Friends'' may be penned by the California Supreme Court.
• "State's high court hears from 'Friends'," Joyce Howard Price, Washington Times, June 22, 2004: Free-speech groups want the California Supreme Court to overturn an appellate ruling that allowed a writers' assistant for the TV comedy "Friends" to pursue a sexual harassment claim because of bawdy banter between the show's writers.