Abc Sued For Going Undercover

In 1992, ABC’s “PrimeTime Live” ran a hidden-camera expose accusing Food Lion, then the country’s fastest-growing supermarket chain and Wall Street’s darling, of such unsanitary practices as selling rat-gnawed cheese and spoiled chicken that had been washed in bleach.

Food Lion denied the allegations and sued. But not for libel.

The company went after ABC for fraud, claiming among other things that the network staged some of the scenes in the 24-minute report and used deception to obtain jobs at Food Lion for the two ABC producers who went undercover.

The $30 million lawsuit threatens one of TV’s most successful newsgathering techniques.

Such lawsuits “are designed to tap into what they hope is the public’s distrust for hidden cameras and microphones … even if it’s being used to inform the public about some bad stuff,” said Sandra Baron of the Libel Defense Resource Center.

A loss for ABC “would have a chilling effect on surreptitious newsgathering, including the use of hidden cameras and other operations,” said law professor Rod Smolla, director of the Institute of Bill of Rights Law at the College of William & Mary.

In its lawsuit, Food Lion alleges ABC producers Susan Barnett and Lynne Neufer, who went by Lynne Neufer Litt at the time, misrepresented themselves in order to get jobs at Food Lion stores.

“Litt believed it necessary to conceal the fact that she was an ABC employee from Food Lion - i.e., to lie and deceive Food Lion - in order to obtain a job with Food Lion and gain access to areas of Food Lion stores not open to the public,” Food Lion says.

Likewise, the company says, “Barnett obtained valuable employment from Food Lion under false pretenses. … Her sole purpose in obtaining a job with Food Lion was to conduct a surreptitious investigation of Food Lion … for use on the television show PrimeTime Live.”