Kelli L. Sager

As an authority on the First Amendment, defamation and commercial speech law, Sager has spend more than 30 years representing media and entertainment companies and individual journalists, cable companies, film producers and content outlets. Chambers USA recognized her in 2020 as one of two “star” individuals nationwide in its top tier of media attorneys, calling her “the undisputed doyenne of the First Amendment Bar in California.”

She’s long been an advocate for enhanced courtroom access, serving on various bench-bar groups at the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals including its Public Information and Community Outreach Committee. From that group, Chief Judge Sidney R. Thomas asked her to join a Cameras in the Court working group.

“And that was before the pandemic,” she said, noting that the far-flung circuit’s enthusiasm for letting the public audit its proceedings remotely goes back at least to the term of its former chief, Alex Kozinski. When Covid-19 forced courthouses to limit in-person sessions, many moved to live video streaming of oral arguments and events. “I’m optimistic that at the district level judges who have been skeptical will be encouraged to move forward,” she said.

A current case in which Sager represents a book publisher defendant featured Kozinski on the plaintiff’s side. The matter represented the former chief’s first return to the Pasadena Courthouse where he’d kept chambers before abruptly retiring from the bench in 2017 and returning to private practice in the face of accusations by at least 15 women that he’d subjected them to unwanted sexual comments or hugging and groping.

Sager said she and Kozinski remained affable in the old-fashioned style of counsel who contend fiercely in litigation but maintain friendly relations outside the courtroom. “It’s good to have a cordial relationship with opposing counsel,” Sager said. “That way, you don’t spend your client’s time and money on small stuff. You’re an advocate, but you treat each other with respect.”

Much litigation now is harder-edged, Sager said, noting that she and her future husband once were opposing counsel. “After the dispute was over, we had lunch, and then started dating. Sadly, friendly relationships with opposing seem less likely today.”

Sager had won dismissal in district court of the copyright infringement claims by Kozinski’s client, who contended that his play “Let Me Hear You Whisper” supplied key plot elements of the Oscar-winning film “The Shape of Water.” In June 2020 Kozinski won revival of the suit before a circuit panel. Zindel v. Fox Searchlight Pictures Inc., 18-56087 (9th Cir., filed Aug. 13, 2018).

The panel said the question of whether there was a substantial similarity between the play and the film could not be decided on a motion to dismiss.

Sager’s client is another defendant, Macmillan Publishing Group, which printed a novelization of the film. She’s preparing a summary judgment motion; failing that, trial in the case is set for July.

— John Roemer