We reverse the trial court's summary judgment to the extent it orders the Tatums to take nothing on their libel and libel per se claims. Copyright 2023, Thomson Reuters. filed), we noted that "[p]lacing the burden of proving truth or falsity is a complex . We next consider appellees' summary judgment ground that the column contains only nonactionable opinions. The new Dallas Morning News app combines two apps into one. Id. at 6667. Kass reviewed Cargill's report about the accident, interviewed the Tatums, reviewed Paul's conduct before and after the accident as reported by his friends, and reviewed other documents such as Paul's medical history and death certificate. Mar. By statute, a newspaper or other periodical enjoys a privilege against libel actions regarding the publication of certain matters, including (i) a fair, true, and impartial account of an official proceeding to administer the law, Civ. We therefore decline to follow West. Civ. Read Tatum v. Dall. Employment Law But it's such a missed opportunity to educate.. Are the Tatums limited-purpose public figures? As to whether Blow misrepresented his investigation and the sources of his information, Blow testified by deposition that he learned the information about Paul's death that he used in his column from one of his colleagues at DMN. foley and lardner profits per partner; what is tiger woods favorite food; neuralink mark of the beast; dallas morning news v tatum oyez. For example, the internal sources that Blow said he contacted before publishing the column denied having discussed the matter with him. But a topic is not a public controversy merely because some people are talking about it: A general concern or interest will not suffice. Tax Law That question remains to be decided by the factfinder. Calling someone a liar and accusing someone of perjury, as occurred in those cases, both implicate the person's mental state, because both liar and perjury denote the willful telling of an untruth. Id. We do not consider the defamatory statement itself in determining whether the plaintiff is a public figure. DC-11-07371 . In this libel-by-implication case, a column written by Steve Blow and published by The Dallas Morning News (collectively, Petitioners) was reasonably capable of meaning that John and Mary Ann Tatum ac. Real Estate & Property Law But Tomaso and Sherrington were also deposed, and they both testified that they did not remember having a conversation with Blow about Paul's death. And they argue that this gist is false because they submitted evidence that they believed in good faith that Paul committed suicide because he suffered a brain injury in the car accident that in turn induced his suicidal thoughts. & Rem.Code Ann. (A publication is of and concerning the plaintiff if persons who knew and were acquainted with him understood from viewing the publication that the defamatory matter referred to him.). Our supreme court, however, has embraced the Milkovich verifiability test. SUCV201001010, 2013 WL 4081413, at *912 (Mass.Super.Ct. Business Law Appellees make a threshold argument that the Tatums must satisfy the standard for libel per se because they did not plead or prove libel per quod or special damages. We are unpersuaded. Add . The test here is whether the defamatory statement is verifiable as false. They also sued DMN for DTPA violations. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that their cases are distinguishable or otherwise unpersuasive. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 72. We held that these affidavits provided clear and specific evidence that the post was about Misko, even though Misko was not named in it. It does not mention those proceedings, nor does it report any statements or findings made in the course of those proceedings. I'm a big admirer of Julie Hersh. You can explore additional available newsletters here. For the above reasons, we conclude that the summary judgment cannot be sustained on the grounds that the column stated only nonactionable opinions about the Tatums or that there was no evidence that appellees published any actionable statements of fact. Appellees' summary judgment motion argued that (i) they proved the column was true or substantially true and (ii) the Tatums had no evidence of any false statement of fact in the column. To the extent a negligence standard applies, there was no evidence of negligence. at 72. 73.001. The trial court granted summary judgment for Petitioners. Sysco Food Servs., Inc. v. Trapnell, 890 S.W.2d 796, 800 (Tex.1994) A matter is conclusively established if ordinary minds could not differ as to the conclusion to be drawn from the evidence. In re Estate of Hendler, 316 S.W.3d 703, 707 (Tex.App.Dallas 2010, no pet.). See id. We conclude that the Tatums adduced no evidence of this requirement. Appellees won a take-nothing summary judgment. It then denied rehearing on September 28, 2018 File Closed Opinions Issued Case Events Parties and Counsel Opinions May 11, 2018 Zoning, Planning & Land Use. %PDF-1.5 % Plaintiffs sued Defendant for intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), claiming that Defendant exploited the tragedy of their son's death by encouraging the criticism of their son's obituary. Did appellees conclusively prove the fair comment privilege? Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61. 186 0 obj <> endobj In their second appellate issue, the Tatums contend that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment on their DTPA claims against DMN. Libel per quod is simply libel that is not actionable per se. The other affidavit is by Dr. Joseph Kass, a medical doctor and neurologist who possesses expertise in neurocognitive disorders such as traumatic brain injuries. Placing the burden of proving truth or falsity is a complex matter. What is the column's gist regarding the Tatums? On June 20, 2010Father's Day, and about one month after Paul's suicidethe paper published a column by Blow entitled "Shrouding Suicide Leaves its Danger Unaddressed." To the extent West is similar to the instant case, we disagree with it. 2. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that appellees acted with the necessary degree of culpability? We agree with the Tatums on all three points. But the court went on to hold that "to the extent that the column states that the Tatums acted deceptively, it is true." For the above reasons, we conclude that a person of ordinary intelligence could construe the column to suggest that Paul suffered from mental illness and his parents failed to confront it honestly and timely, perhaps missing a chance to save his life. 17.46(b)(24); see also Brennan v. Manning, No. Conversely, a publication that consists of statements that are literally true when read in isolation can still convey a false and defamatory meaning by omitting or juxtaposing facts. Established in 1885, The Dallas Morning News is Texas' leading newspaper and the flagship newspaper subsidiary of DallasNews Corporation. If a publication is of ambiguous or doubtful import, however, the jury must determine its meaning. 2014, pet. OPINION . Defamation has two forms: slander and libel. Id. Immigration Law According to the court, the Tatums chose the wording of the obituary to reflect their conviction that Pauls suicide resulted from suicidal ideation arising from a brain injury [sustained in the car crash] rather than from any undiagnosed mental illness.. The Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, Petitioners v. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum, Respondents No. Securities Law at 62; McIlvain v. Jacobs, 794 S.W.2d 14, 15 (Tex.1990). 051401318CV. Appellees' summary judgment motion argued that they conclusively negated the element of actual malice, that the Tatums could produce no evidence of actual malice, and that the Tatums could produce no evidence of negligence if that standard applied. See Waste Mgmt. Id. The trial court later lifted the stay and again rendered a take-nothing summary judgment against the Tatums. Do you think that might be important for parents to understand? We disagree. Antitrust & Trade Regulation On appeal, the Tatums argue that they (i) are required to prove only negligence because they are not public figures and (ii) produced sufficient evidence of both actual malice and negligence. Morning News, Inc., 493 S.W.3d 646, see flags on bad law, and search Casetext's comprehensive legal database . For this privilege to apply, however, the law requires that the comment at issue purported to be, and was, only a fair, true and impartial report of what was stated at the meeting, regardless of whether the facts under discussion at such meeting were in fact true, unless the report was made with malice. Denton Publ'g Co., 460 S.W.2d at 883. Milkovich lost on summary judgment and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. We construe an allegedly defamatory publication as a whole, in light of the surrounding circumstances, based on how a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive it. DMN counterclaimed for its attorneys' fees under the DTPA. Based on the record before us, we conclude that the Tatums were not limited-purpose public figures. Crediting the Tatums' evidence as we must, we conclude that a reasonable factfinder could find that the column's gist was false. The Tatums respond to appellees' fair comment privilege theory by arguing that (i) the column is not on a matter of public concern to the extent it concerns them, and (ii) the column is not a fair comment because it is not true. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW v. JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM; from Dallas County; 5th Court of Appeals District (05-14-01017-CV, 493 SW3d 646, 12-30-15) The Dallas Express a newspaper printed by and for the city's African American community ALSO essential sadly, only the years 1919-1924 have been scanned, here The Jewish Monitor published in Fort Worth, serving the DFW (and Texas) Jewish community, 1919-1921, here The Texas Jewish Post, 1950-2011, here Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 591. Agriculture Law Learn more about FindLaws newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy. In May 2010, Paul was a seventeen-year-old high school student. That is, as Neely illustrates, enough to raise a genuine fact issue on the fair comment privilege. Nonetheless, the Tatums filed affidavits by two experts. dallas morning news v tatum oyezmedical emergency tabletop exercise. This case involves libel, which is a defamation expressed in written or other graphic form. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). We conclude that summary judgment was proper as to the Tatums' DTPA claims but not as to their libel claims. We have already concluded that a reasonable reader could conclude that the column presents a false gist about the Tatums. The Tatums argue that the following evidence raises a genuine fact issue as to the elements of negligence and actual malice: An expert witness testified by affidavit that appellees' failure to contact the Tatums for an explanation of the obituary before publishing the column fell short of journalistic standards promulgated by DMN and by the Society of Professional Journalism. In adopting the verifiable as false test in Bentley and Neely, the Texas Supreme Court relied on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990). Obituaries Section. They also argue that the column contains only nonactionable rhetorical hyperbole in the course of advocating societal change. 05-14-01017-CV, 2015 WL 9582903, at *5 (Tex. But appellees do not explain how the column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole. But averting our eyes from the reality of suicide only puts more lives at risk. Id. The gist also implies that the explanation the Tatums gave for the cause of Paul's death was false and that Paul committed suicide because of remorse rather than because of injuries suffered in the auto accident. 73.005(a) (truth is a defense to a libel action); see also Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 62 (mentioning the defense of truth and citing 73.005); Randall's Food Mkts., Inc. v. Johnson, 891 S.W.2d 640, 646 (Tex.1995) (In suits brought by private individuals, truth is an affirmative defense to slander.) (footnote omitted). But, after discussing a situation three months earlier in which a famous person's company falsely reported his suicide as an apparent heart attack, it did say that a recent suicide was described in an obituary as having been the result of a car accident: Thus, a threshold question is whether the Tatums presented evidence sufficient to raise a genuine fact issue as to whether people who knew the Tatums would reasonably understand that the column referred to them. filed). Civ. The Tatums' attorney, Joe Sibley, said he could not comment since The News was a party to the lawsuit. %%EOF The plaintiff must also prove damages unless the defamatory statements are defamatory per se. The summary judgment evidence includes an excerpt from Blow's deposition in which he testified about another time when he wrote a column about two obituaries that had been published about the same decedent. The Tatums timely responded. The summary judgment evidence included a copy of the printed version of the newspaper column that prompted this suit. Cf. Civ. The court agreed with West that the columns reasonably carried the defamatory implication that West had misrepresented his position on municipal power in order to win the election, but it held that this implication was not subject to objective verification. Waste Mgmt. Accordingly, because there is no evidence of a public controversy that could make the Tatums limited-purpose public figures, we conclude that the Tatums are private figures for purposes of this summary judgment appeal. The Tatums argue that an accusation of deception is verifiable and therefore actionable, while appellees argue that it is not. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 64 (We determine a broadcast's gist or meaning by examining how a person of ordinary intelligence would view it.) (footnote omitted). Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was about them? 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