Today, according to an article in Crain’s, a judge in Manhattan federal court said that NBC Universal will have to stand trial in a $100 million civil suit, revolving around the 2006 suicide of Texas district attorney Louis Conradt.
At the time of his suicide, Mr. Conradt was about to be arrested for soliciting a minor. The investigation was being filmed as part of NBC’s To Catch a Predator.
Mr. Conradt’s suicide focused a significant amount of public scrutiny on the methods behind NBC’s sometimes controversial show.
The suit was filed last year by Patricia Conradt, the sister of the late attorney.
"In a Tuesday ruling, New York’s U.S. District Judge Denny Chin said the suit may go forward, though he dismissed some legal claims," reported Crain’s. "By seeking to ‘sensationalize’ the arrest of Mr. Conradt, NBC may have created a ‘substantial risk of suicide’ and ‘engaged in conduct so outrageous and extreme that no civilized society should tolerate it,’ Mr. Chin said in his court opinion."
