1) http://www.pointoflaw.com/archives/003482.php
"January 30, 2007
Zyprexa protective order enforcement III: NY Times reporter invited to testify
(Earlier: Dec. 20 and Jan. 8.)
New York Times reporter Alex Berenson was "invited" to testify at the Zyprexa protective order hearing by Judge Weinstein to address testimony "implicating him in a conspiracy" to violate the protective order. As Bill Childs noted on January 25, "I don't remember ever being aware of a reporter connecting sources with lawyers in an effort to get documents that are otherwise under a protective order." As of 10:24 PM, there is no story about this order on the New York Times website or, indeed, anywhere other than Bill Childs's weblog."
2) http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&Date=20070130&ID=6411776
"Judge Asks N.Y. Times Reporter to Appear
A New York Times reporter has been asked to appear in federal court next month to answer testimony that a judge said implicated the writer in a "conspiracy" to obtain confidential documents regarding the anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa.
The reporter, Alex Berenson, wrote a number of articles starting late last year saying the drug's manufacturer, Indianapolis-based drug maker Eli Lilly and Co., downplayed Zyprexa's risks and marketed it for unapproved uses. Lilly has denied the charges.
Jack B. Weinstein, a judge in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, invited Berenson to appear voluntarily in the court on Feb. 7 to explain how he got the documents, which had been sealed by the court. In a filing Tuesday Weinstein said Berenson could be accompanied by his attorney and would be subject to cross-examination.
The Times said it is considering how to respond. "We just got all the papers in this matter, including the invitation, and we're studying them and will respond to the judge in due course," said spokeswoman Diane McNulty. "We believe our reporting in this matter was very newsworthy and was derived from routine newsgathering procedures."
Weinstein wrote in the filing that he was asking Berenson to appear after hearing testimony from James Gottstein, an Alaska-based lawyer named in Berenson's stories as the source of the documents.
"This invitation is intended to permit Alex Berenson to confront testimony received at a hearing in this court on January 16-17 implicating him in a conspiracy to obtain and publish confidential documents sealed by this court," Weinstein wrote.
In excerpts of Gottstein's testimony included in Weinstein's filing, Gottstein said Berenson had told him that a plaintiff's expert named Dr. David Egilman had a number of documents that Gottstein could obtain by subpoena.
The testimony was taken during a hearing earlier this month over whether the documents provided to The New York Times should be made public.
Lilly also said it had no role in the judge's decision to ask Berenson to appear. Lilly spokesman Phil Belt said he didn't know whether Berenson was involved in a conspiracy but the company would be interested in hearing what he would tell the judge.
Lilly has settled 28,500 Zyprexa-related lawsuits and there are another 1,200 outstanding, according to Belt."
3) "Individual Justice in Mass Tort Litigation"
"[p]rotective orders may have a legitimate role when there is
no public impact or when true trade secrets are involved.
But we can strike a fairer balance between privacy interests of
corporations and the health and safety of the public.
A publicly maintained legal system ought not protect
those who engage in misconduct, conceal the cause of injury from the victims, or render potential victims vulnerable.
Moreover, such secrecy defeats the deterrent function of the justice system."
Judge Weinstein
(February 2005, Page 70)