NBC On Trial for 'To Catch A Predator' Suicide

Predator: NBCU to stand trial
A judge said the network will stand trial to determine whether it was responsible for the suicide of a man being filmed on its To Catch a Predator series.

February 26. 2008 3:51PM
By: Kira Bindrim
Crain's New York Business.com

A U.S. District Court judge said Tuesday that NBC Universal will have to stand trial in a controversial $100 million lawsuit related to the network’s popular To Catch a Predator series.

The suit was filed in Manhattan federal court by Patricia Conradt last year, following the 2006 suicide of Texas district attorney Louis Conradt, who shot himself as police were about to arrest him for soliciting a minor. Mr. Conradt’s arrest was being filmed for Predator.

Ms. Conradt says NBC Universal, as well as its Dateline NBC news show, is responsible for her brother’s death. 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.

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.

The suit isn’t the first time Predator has been criticized. Some critics say the show contributes to a sense of hysteria and sensationalism more than anything.

But NBC says the show isn’t responsible for its unwillingly-filmed subjects, and even touts the series as something of a public service. Predator helped catch 129 male predators in a total of 14 days of filming between 2004 and 2006, according to the network’s Web site. Over 70 of the men have been convicted.