Cochran case.

The death of Johnnie Cochran Jr. has not derailed a defamation case he filed against a former client.

The U.S. Supreme Court heard initial arguments last month between Cochran and Ulysses Tory, who is seeking to lift an injunction that bars him from speaking about the attorney in public or picketing outside his offices.

Tory, now retired, retained Cochran's legal services in 1983 in a personal injury suit but was dropped as a client two years later. He began picketing outside Cochran's Los Angeles office with placards that said, "Johnnie is a crook, a liar and a thief," among other things.

Cochran said Tory's actions were defamatory, and a lower court judge granted the injunction. Last year, the California Supreme Court refused to hear the case after a state appellate court affirmed the injunction.

Erwin Chemerinsky, a professor at Duke University's Law School who filed a brief on behalf of Tory last year, called the injunction against Tory "an enormous restriction on speech."

Attorneys on both sides said the injunction applies to Cochran's law offices, not just Cochran.

"The injunction continues forever, even if Johnnie Cochran dies or his law firm dissolves," wrote Jean-Paul Jassy, a lawyer at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP representing Tory, in his initial brief to the Supreme Court.

Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at [phone], ext. 225, or at [e-mail].