This appeal challenged a grossly overbroad injunction against protesters who had demonstrated outside the D.C. office of Goldman Sachs and the home of its chief lobbyist in 2010. The injunction—which was written by Goldman Sachs’ lawyers and adopted wholesale by the Superior Court – prohibited, among other things, “the commission or encouraging the commission of publishing or delivering by website, electronic-mail or in any form whatsoever any information concerning or describing any activities perpetrated by any person affiliated with Defendants against [Goldman Sachs].”
We filed an amicus brief on behalf of ourselves and the Metropolitan Washington Council, AFL-CIO, and participated in oral argument before the D.C. Court of Appeals in October 2012. In April 2013 the court reversed, holding that the conduct of the protestors was not extreme or outrageous so as to constitute the tortious infliction of emotional distress, and did not constitute a “private nuisance.” The court therefore did not need to reach our First Amendment arguments. In October 2013, the court denied Goldman Sachs’ petition for rehearing en banc.