Judge: Nancy Grace's deposition can be videotaped

The Associated Press
The Miami Herald

miamiherald.com

January 26, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A judge has ruled that talk show host Nancy Grace can be videotaped while answering questions in a Florida wrongful death lawsuit,
but lawyers representing Melinda Duckett's family can't share the recording with "any third party"...Grace accused Duckett of hiding something. Duckett shot and killed herself the day the taped interview was scheduled to broadcast.

read entire article here

Lawsuit: Nancy Grace employee knew of Melinda Duckett's mental instability

By Stephen Hudak, Orlando Sentinel
February 5, 2010

OCALA - A filing in a federal lawsuit against Nancy Grace says an employee of the cable talk show knew Melinda Duckett had once been involuntarily committed for mental instability before the Florida mom was grilled on the show...

Duckett reported that her 2-year-old son, Trenton, was missing from his bedroom of their garden-floor apartment in Leesburg on Aug. 27, 2006. She then committed suicide at her grandparents' home in The Villages on Sept. 8, 2006, hours before her interview was scheduled to air on Headline News or HLN, a division of CNN.

Grace, the host of a self-titled show on HLN, formerly CNN Headline News, is being sued by Duckett's family. They blame her for inflicting emotional distress on Melinda Duckett during a taped interview for the show...

[The lawsuit] suggests negligence and can prove that Grace and her show's employees "tricked" Duckett's lawyer into allowing the 21-year-old mother to appear on the program...Schulte, who testified at a deposition Dec. 21, was not told that Grace planned to interrogate Duckett...

Grace, who testified in a deposition Jan. 28 in Atlanta, said she was not informed of Schiffman's representations to Duckett's lawyer and did not read any pre-interview notes Schiffman made about Duckett.

Grace also testified that she routinely throws out pre-interview notes. (Well, this explains why she gets so many things wrong.)

Melinda Duckett is now dead, and Trenton Duckett remains missing.

Leesburg police have labeled Melinda Duckett as the lone suspect in the boy's disappearance.
The trial in the wrongful-death lawsuit is set for July 6 in federal court in Ocala, Orange County, Florida.

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Grace didn't read notes about Fla. mom

The Associated Press

via The Miami Herald

miamiherald.com

February 7, 2010

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A filing in a lawsuit against Nancy Grace says the talk show host's guest booker knew a Florida mother who killed herself after being grilled on the show had been previously committed for mental instability...
read entire article here

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A federal judge in Ocala Monday signed the order preventing the release of any video. Duckett's family is asking for damages in excess of $15,000. OK, when I read that I had to read it twice. They are asking for 15K, probably just the cost of her funeral. That and a heartfelt apology from Nancy Grace for being such a bitch to their granddaughter, and the whole thing would probably go away. Would that be so hard for Grace?