According to the Dallas Voice, the civil suit stemmed from a Dec. 4, 2003 article on financial mismanagement within a Dallas church, in which the Observer named an HIV-positive volunteer who it claimed was on the church's employee health plan. The volunteer, who filed the lawsuit under the name John Doe, alleged that the Observer had violated the Texas Health and Safety Code, which prohibits the disclosure of HIV test results. The court's written opinion rejected the lawsuit on the grounds that the newspaper did not have access to test results or other confidential medical information; the newspaper had learned of the plaintiff's HIV-positive status through another member of the church. The Dallas Observer's Feb. 2 issue reported the "happy ending to a silly lawsuit" and again named the plaintiff, who still may request a rehearing or appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
