This is primarily a “Tale of Two Cases,” heard on back-to-back days at the New York Court of Appeals in 1990. My focus highlights different standards the media use to cover, and often skew, the public understanding of a well-informed public concerning the civic importance and core values of cases and the judicial process.
The Feb. 8, 1990 oral argument in of Mercury Bay v. San Diego Yacht Club (76 N Y 2nd 256 [1990]) was about who won a yacht race, finished on a water course two years earlier. The “ground-breaking” race was the first time a multi-hull catamaran competed.
