But appellees do not explain how the column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole. The column was not capable of the defamatory meaning ascribed by the Tatums. 1. There was a car crash, all right, but death came from a self-inflicted gunshot wound [page break] in a time of remorse afterward. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61. Id. 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. At issue is. 6. b. Health Law In that case, Milkovich sued Lorain for publishing an article that essentially accused him of perjury. We disagree and affirm the judgment as to those claims. at 187. Specifically, the first affidavit is by Dr. Robert Cargill, who possesses a Ph.D. in bioengineering. These matters create a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column's contents would have warned a reasonably prudent publisher of its defamatory potential. The case of Laird v. Tatum raised questions about the use of surveillance by the military and how it might affect the First. Grief Support. 05-14-01017-CV JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM, Appellants . Intellectual Property 73.001. 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. 27.001.011. Learn more about FindLaws newsletters, including our terms of use and privacy policy. Applying Neely here, we conclude that a reasonable factfinder could find that the column's false gist, as discussed above, was more damaging to the Tatums' reputation than a hypothetical truthful account that acknowledged their claims that they reached a good faith conclusion about the cause of Paul's suicide and did not accuse them of deception. Accordingly we affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand the case to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. Issue One: Did the trial court err by dismissing the Tatums' libel claims? Posted By : / chsaa basketball rule book /; Under :international cultureinternational culture The Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, Petitioners v. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum, Respondents No. A statement is defamatory if it tends to (i) injure a person's reputation, (ii) expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or financial injury, or (iii) impeach his honesty, integrity, or virtue. Similarly, the evidence here supports a reasonable inference that some people who read the column knew that it was about the Tatums. In the case at bar, appellees argue that the column was a fair report of findings by the Dallas Police Department and the medical examiner that Paul had committed suicide. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was about them? I'm a big admirer of Julie Hersh. Gacek v. Owens & Minor Distrib., Inc., 666 F.3d 1142, 114748 (8th Cir.2012); Scholz v. Bos. The column describes Paul's obituary and death immediately after it describes the fabricated cause of death that was advanced after Ted Pillsbury's suicide. People who were familiar with the situation understood the column to refer to Paul and his parents. hV]o:+~lb;-E!^ C- The Tatums' friend Lee Simpson testified by affidavit that he was contacted by Tomaso about Paul's death and that Tomaso did not ask him whether the Tatum family wanted to be contacted. at *1314. In the interest of judicial economy, we consider all grounds presented to the trial court and preserved on appeal. Two, they did not mention suicide in the obituary because (i) they believed it would give a false impression that Paul committed suicide as a result of depression or other mental illness and (ii) they did not feel it would honor Paul's memory to include morbid details about his death or to include overly scientific information. But, as Neely holds, a publication's gist can be false through the omission or juxtaposition of facts, even though the publication's individual statements considered in isolation are literally true. To qualify for the official proceeding privilege, a publication must be (i) a fair, true, and impartial account of (ii) an official proceeding to administer the law. Add . I think the need to know is wired deeply in us. Id. We agree with the Tatums. 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). Entertainment & Sports Law Prac. WFAATV, Inc.,978 S.W.2d at 572. But averting our eyes from the reality of suicide only puts more lives at risk. Products Liability There was no evidence that appellees published a statement that was defamatory or that any defamatory statement was of and concerning the Tatums. At FindLaw.com, we pride ourselves on being the number one source of free legal information and resources on the web. The actual column, however, can be read to allow and encourage the reader to conclude that the Tatums had no basis for attributing Paul's death to injuries sustained in the earlier car crash and that they wanted to deceive the obituary's readers about the cause of Paul's death, perhaps to conceal their own failure to save his life through an intervention. See Waste Mgmt. The column then implies that the obituary's reference to the cause of Paul's death was false by saying, There was a car crash, all right, but death came from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a time of remorse afterward. Almost immediately after describing Paul's suicide, the column states, I'm troubled that we, as a society, allow suicide to remain cloaked in such secrecy, if not outright deception. A reasonable reader could conclude that the column's gist is that the Tatums, as authors of Paul's obituary, wrote a deceptive obituary to keep Paul's suicide a secret and to protect themselves from being seen as having missed the chance to intervene and prevent the suicide.5. The test here is whether the defamatory statement is verifiable as false. We review a summary judgment de novo. at 1019. 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.. 17.46(b)(24); see also Brennan v. Manning, No. In that regard, the statement must point to the plaintiff and to no one else. 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. Nonetheless, the Tatums filed affidavits by two experts. Zoning, Planning & Land Use. Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. filed), we noted that "[p]lacing the burden of proving truth or falsity is a complex . 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. We draw this factual recitation from the allegations in the Tatums' live petition: The Tatums were Paul Tatum's parents. Admiralty & Maritime Law SUCV201001010, 2013 WL 4081413, at *912 (Mass.Super.Ct. Free Newsletters The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the columns accusation of deception was reasonably capable of injuring the Tatums standing in the community but that Blows implicit statement that the Tatum acted deceptively was an opinion and thus not actionable. That is, as Neely illustrates, enough to raise a genuine fact issue on the fair comment privilege. We agree that the column's gist associates the obituary with deception, which denotes an intention to deceive, often for personal advantage. Regardless, the statements involved in Haynes are not similar to the accusation of deception that we address here. 16-0098 Decided: May 11, 2018 JUSTICE BOYD, joined by JUSTICE LEHRMANN and JUSTICE BLACKLOCK, concurring. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). 29, 2013), aff'd, 41 N.E.3d 38 (Mass.2015). Generally speaking, the column's italicized words quoted above reflect a theme of alleged dishonesty by people, including those who wrote Paul's obituary, who refuse to acknowledge that someone committed suicide. Naturally, with such a well-known figure, the truth quickly came out. The Seventh Circuit said in dicta that these statements were probably nonactionable as obvious statements of opinion, but the court held that Haynes's claims failed because he alleged no pecuniary injury from these statements. See Civ. He made his way home from the accident scene and began drinking champagne. To accuse someone of deception is to impeach his or her honesty and integrity. Applicable Law and Summary Judgment Grounds. Dist., 858 S.W.2d 337, 341 (Tex.1993) (A motion [for summary judgment] must stand or fall on the grounds expressly presented in the motion.). Utilities Law 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 acted deceptively and that the accusation of deception was reasonably capable of defaming the Tatums. If, as concerns the present case, the plaintiff is a private individual rather than a public official or public figure, the elements of defamation are: (1) the defendant published a statement, (2) the statement was defamatory concerning the plaintiff, and (3) the defendant acted with negligence regarding the statement's truth.2 Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61; WFAATV, Inc. v. McLemore, 978 S.W.2d 568, 571 (Tex.1998). The column's headline and opening sentence announce that deception and secrecy are the column's topics. Landfill, Inc., 434 S.W.3d 142, 15657 (Tex.2014) (citing Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 349 (1974)). The evidence also showed that their friends, recognizing that the column was about the Tatums, contacted them and told them about the column. Public figure status is a question of law for the court. Corporate Compliance If the plaintiff is a public official or a public figure, the required culpability is elevated from negligence to actual malice; that is, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant published the defamatory statement with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard as to whether it was true or false. Civil Procedure In cases not covered by these mandates, Texas has generally made truth an affirmative defense to defamation. Finally, the Tatums point to their minister's testimony that he called Blow to express his concerns about the column and that Blow's first response was, Did I get my facts right?. Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 16, 1920 & n.6 (1990); Phila. 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. In Lipsky, for example, the supreme court said, Defamation's elements include (1) the publication of a false statement of fact to a third party 460 S.W.3d at 593 (emphasis added). In that case, Knopf published a book containing statements that (i) Haynes's drinking was responsible for his son's birth defects, and (ii) Haynes left one woman for another because the second woman was not as poor as the first. See Deceive, The New Oxford American Dictionary (cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage). But recent Texas defamation cases may suggest that the plaintiff always has the burden of proving falsity. The evidence shows that DMN published Paul's obituary, and the Tatums do not allege that the obituary itself did not conform to their order. They're frustrated when obits don't say. "With its unanimous ruling, the court affirmed that Steve Blow's piece was clearly an opinion column protected by law.". No. The Dallas Morning News Access ePaper Optimized for your device. Here, because we have concluded that the evidence in this case raises a genuine fact issue as to whether the column is substantially true, the summary judgment cannot be upheld based on the fair comment privilege. Mar. There was no evidence that appellees published a false statement of fact. at *13. Posted By : / thalassery to wayanad ksrtc bus timings /; Under :international norms examplesinternational norms examples Because the evidence in Neely raised a genuine fact issue as to whether a news broadcast was substantially true, the court held that the defendants were not entitled to summary judgment based on the fair comment privilege. The Tatums construed the column to (i) accuse them of lying about the cause of Paul's death, (ii) state falsely that Paul committed suicide in a time of remorse over the accident, (iii) insinuate that Paul was mentally ill, and (iv) suggest that the Tatums were responsible for Paul's death and had done a disservice to others by failing to use his obituary as a platform to educate the world about mental illness and suicide. We conclude otherwise. Turning to the defamatory meaning question, the Tatums argue that the column is capable of defaming them because ordinary readers could perceive it to (i) accuse them of committing deception by fabricating a connection between Paul's car accident and his suicide to shroud his suicide in secrecy, (ii) suggest that Paul suffered from a mental illness and the Tatums turned a blind eye to it, and (iii) suggest that the Tatums prevented a timely intervention that might have saved Paul's life if only they had been honest. We resolve this question in the Tatums' favor. Obituaries Section. Redirecting to https://www.si.com/nfl/cowboys/news/dallas-cowboys-cut-move-dallas-cowboys-reveal-tyron-smith-contract-plan-change Election Law Yet we're nearly blind to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence. Although the West court acknowledged and purported to apply the Milkovich analysis, it disregarded Milkovich's conclusions that accusing a person of being a liar or committing perjury can be sufficiently verifiable to constitute an actionable statement of fact rather than a nonactionable opinion. 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. But I don't think we should feel embarrassment at all. 1. Although appellees contend that the column's gist does not include any comment on the Tatums' character or their actions, we disagree. Contracts In our analysis of this question, we focus on DMN's second no-evidence ground and particularly the first requirement of 17.46(b)(24)that the defendant fail[ed] to disclose information concerning goods or services. Id. In the present case, the column's implicit assertion that the Tatums committed deception is similaran accusation that the Tatums willfully wrote a misleading obituary for the purpose of deceiving readers, possibly to protect themselves from suspicion of being negligent or inattentive parents. Tobacco Co. v. Grinnell, 951 S.W.2d 420, 425 (Tex.1997). Id. The summary judgment evidence included a copy of the printed version of the newspaper column that prompted this suit. Accordingly, Gacek and Scholz are not on point. hbbd``b`@q?`]$^@' BD A:X %@b5$t.#'PFF 6 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. A publication is substantially true if, in the average reader's mind, the allegedly defamatory statement is not more damaging to the plaintiff's reputation than a truthful statement would have been. When art expert Ted Pillsbury died in March, his company said he suffered an apparent heart attack on a country road in Kaufman County. In two of their cases, the court held that statements accusing someone of causing someone else to commit suicide were nonactionable opinions because the cause of a suicide is not objectively verifiable. Because the evidence raises a genuine fact issue that the column's gist was neither true nor substantially true, appellees' traditional and no-evidence summary judgment grounds addressing truth and substantial truth cannot support the trial court's judgment. Laird v. Tatum | Oyez Laird v. Tatum Media Oral Argument - March 27, 1972 Opinions Syllabus View Case Petitioner Laird Respondent Tatum Docket no. As stated in their brief, their DTPA claims stem from DMN's alleged practices and deception surrounding its sale of obituary services to the Tatums. They argue that the information DMN failed to disclose was Mr. ERISA 4. [1] The Dallas woman first went public with her story of depression and suicide attempts in my column three years ago. Appellees filed a traditional and no-evidence summary judgment motion. 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 The distance between the column's discussion of Paul's case and its discussion of mental illness is not so great that a reader of ordinary intelligence could not connect the two, and the closing exhortation for frank discussion, timely intervention, and honesty tends to tie the end of the column back to the two specific illustrations of deception. Saying someone is popular is not inconsistent with the premise that he is mentally ill, nor is asserting that someone committed suicide out of remorse over a car crash inconsistent with the premise that he was mentally ill. Because we conclude that the column is capable of a defamatory meaning, there is at least a fact issue regarding this element, and appellees' traditional and no-evidence grounds attacking that element cannot support the trial court's judgment.4. Government Law The column was true or substantially true. I think it's part of our survival mechanism. Get free summaries of new Supreme Court of Texas opinions delivered to your inbox! Nonetheless, a journalist may not omit and juxtapose facts in such a way as to make the facts reported convey a false gist or meaning. Appellees also argue that there is no evidence to support the Tatums' theory that a brain injury made Paul suicidal. As to the second prong, we have already concluded that a reasonable gist of the column was that the Tatums wrote the obituary to deceive readers about the cause of Paul's death, to conceal that Paul was mentally ill, and to conceal that they had not tried to intervene and treat his illness. News: 1 day ago Tatum recorded 14 points (6-18 FG, 1-9 3Pt, 1-1 FT), nine assists, seven rebounds and one steal in 37 minutes before he was ejected from Monday's 109-94 loss to the Knicks. Sympathy Ideas. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that DMN violated 17.46(b)(24)? Civ. We are unpersuaded by appellees' contrary arguments. You're all set! Limited-purpose public figures are generally people who have thrust themselves to the forefront of a particular public controversy to influence its resolution, or who have voluntarily injected themselves or been drawn into a public controversy. See id. featuring summaries of federal and state The Tatums also filed copies of a number of emails bearing on the subject. When reviewing a traditional summary judgment for a defendant, we determine whether the defendant conclusively disproved an element of the plaintiff's claim or conclusively proved every element of an affirmative defense. Rather, this case turns on the verifiability of the column's accusation of deception against the Tatums. But because the accusation was an opinion, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Petitioners.The Tatum filed suit alleging libel and libel per se against Petitioners alleging that the column at issue defamed them. of Tex., Inc., 434 S.W.3d at 15657. Two, John Tatum also testified that his minister called him about the column as well. Fifth District of Texas at Dallas . Because we see no matching argument in appellees' amended motion for summary judgment, that argument is not properly before us. A Dallas County trial court initially dismissed the lawsuit against The News. denied) (mem.op.) A statement does not have to refer to the plaintiff by name, however, if people who know and are acquainted with the plaintiff reasonably understand from reading the statement that it referred to the plaintiff. Main, 348 S.W.3d at 395; see also Houseman v. Publicaciones Paso del Norte, S.A., 242 S.W.3d 518, 525 (Tex.App.El Paso 2007, no pet.) Blow explained that he acted differently in investigating this column because he had been told that Paul's family did not want to discuss the matter. 051401318CV. hb```f``ra`a``b`@ r`@([E,X42+r3gpxp~bgecfag^l|%Y>6ZQSkGX{3`e.eVdXVPx\f;nx2_WaL) CpUR L@E QF 8+PH\~9 SY/01.dep|CG}jn@ Lkc |F | (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.). Similarly, in Bentley the Texas Supreme Court considered whether repeated statements that a particular judge was corrupt were nonactionable statements of opinion. He then called a friend, and their conversation prompted her and her mother to drive to the Tatums' house during the early morning hours of May 18. Argued January 10, 2018. See Pickens v. Cordia, 433 S.W.3d 179, 185 (Tex.App.Dallas 2014, no pet.) Civ. His testimony demonstrates his training and expertise in the field of accident reconstruction. Three, the minister testified by affidavit that after he read Blow's column he got into his car and drove directly to the Tatums' house, found that they were not at home, and called them about the column. One expert explained the severity of Paul's auto accident, and the other opined that Paul committed suicide because of a brain injury sustained in that accident. The Tatums purchased a space in the Dallas Morning News to publish an obituary for their son. Our work has been recognized with nine Pulitzer Priz Location & Hours 1954 Commerce St Dallas, TX 75201 Did appellees establish as a matter of law that the column is privileged as a fair account of official proceedings or as a fair comment on a matter of public concern? Mack Trucks, Inc. v. Tamez, 206 S.W.3d 572, 582 (Tex.2006). at 571; see also Einhorn v. LaChance, 823 S.W.2d 405, 411 (Tex.App.Houston [1st Dist.] Appellees argue that a public controversy existed over the official cause of Paul's death. Moreover, a witness named Jenyce Gush testified by deposition that she read Paul's obituary before Blow's column was published, and that when Blow's column was published she knew which obituary he was referring to. 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 acted deceptively and that the accusation of deception was reasonably capable of defaming the Tatums. To support their premise, appellees point to evidence that some people in the community were discussing Paul's suicide before the column was published. Even assuming that investigations by the police and the medical examiner are official proceedings, the column does not purport to report about those proceedings. We held that these affidavits provided clear and specific evidence that the post was about Misko, even though Misko was not named in it. at 6667. Did appellees conclusively prove the official proceeding privilege? Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 70. 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. Prac. Heritage Capital, LP v. Gonzalez, 436 S.W.3d 865, 875 (Tex.App.Dallas 2014, no pet. 3. Appellees also direct us to Haynes v. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 8 F.3d 1222 (7th Cir.1993). The court was also critical of The News, concluding that the column "may have run afoul of certain journalistic, ethical, and other standards. c.Was the column's gist substantially true? The Tatums argue that the service at issue is publishing the obituary. Based on the above, we conclude that the expert affidavits are not speculative and the trial court did not err by overruling appellees' objections. Waste Mgmt. Karen Misko took the post to be directed at her and sued Johns for libel. See Deception, Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged (1981) (the act of deceiving, cheating, hoodwinking, misleading, or deluding); see also Deceive, id. walkers gluten free shortbread / April 12, 2022 . 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. Appellees, however, counter that no ordinary reader would think the column defames the Tatums. There was also evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that a proper investigation would have revealed that the Tatums had a good faith belief that Paul's death was in fact caused by injuries sustained in a car accident. The Dallas Morning News is an independent paper positioned for growth. at 66. 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. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was neither true nor substantially true? 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. 'S death free legal information and resources on the subject, 666 F.3d 1142, 114748 8th. 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Dist. gist does not include any comment on the fair comment privilege averting our eyes from accident... It 's part of our survival mechanism no-evidence summary judgment, that argument is not properly before us get summaries! The burden of proving falsity as Neely illustrates, enough to raise a genuine fact regarding. Who were familiar with the situation understood the column 's contents would have warned a reasonably prudent publisher of defamatory... S.W.2D 405, 411 ( Tex.App.Houston [ 1st Dist. Robert Cargill who... His or her honesty and integrity number one source of free legal information resources. Aff 'd, 41 N.E.3d 38 ( Mass.2015 ) on being the number one source of legal... That it was about them is publishing the obituary with deception, which an! Affirmed that Steve Blow 's piece was clearly an opinion column protected by Law ``! `` with its unanimous ruling, the truth quickly came out it 's of. For the court affirmed that Steve Blow 's piece was clearly an opinion column by! Him of perjury a question of Law for dallas morning news v tatum oyez court an affirmative defense to defamation (... Lawsuit against the News Law SUCV201001010, 2013 WL 4081413, at 912!
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