The Truth is No Defense - A Dallas alternative newspaper has been socked with a $1.1 billion lawsuit for revealing -- accurately -- the HIV+ status of parishioner at the Cathedral of Hope, according to law.com (free registration required). According to the suit, an article about the mostly-gay congregation violated the plaintiff's rights under Sectioin 81.103 of the Texas Health and Safety Code, which forbids disclosures -- without a patient's written consent -- of medical test results and provides for civil penalties of $5,000 to $10,000 per disclosure. The Observer has a circulation of 110,000, so the plaintiff alleges he is entitled to $1.1 billion in damages. The novel questions to be settled in this case are whether this law was intended to cover the media and whether the First Amendment protects truthful disclosures of private medical data.