The Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment against Milkovich, explaining the verifiable-as-false test as follows: Foremost, we think Hepps[7] stands for the proposition that a statement on matters of public concern must be provable as false before there can be liability under state defamation law, at least in situations, like the present, where a media defendant is involved. They argue that the column's gist includes an assertion that they falsely ascribed Paul's death to injuries sustained in an automobile accident with the intent to mislead and deceive readers and to cover up his suicide. Blow's controversial practice of attacking obituaries. In their affidavits, both Tatums said that they would not have published the obituary as worded if they had known that DMN had someone on staff who had a history of criticizing obituaries like Steve Blow.. Turner v. KTRK Television, Inc., 38 S.W.3d 103, 119 (Tex.2000). 203 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<5137B43803F1ED67129ECA0B47F79974>]/Index[186 34]/Info 185 0 R/Length 86/Prev 175724/Root 187 0 R/Size 220/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream 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. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that their cases are distinguishable or otherwise unpersuasive. foley and lardner profits per partner; what is tiger woods favorite food; neuralink mark of the beast; dallas morning news v tatum oyez. Whether a publication is capable of a defamatory meaning is initially a question for the court. pending). Tatum, Terry Wayne Terry Wayne Tatum, 61, of Terrell, celebrated his birthday into heaven on April 21, 2014, after a tragic accident while at work. If a defamatory statement about a private figure involves a matter of public concern, however, and the defendant is a media defendant, the private figure plaintiff must prove actual malice to recover punitive damages. WFAATV, Inc.,978 S.W.2d at 572. See Zerangue v. TSP Newspapers, Inc., 814 F.2d 1066, 107071 (5th Cir.1987) (courts have upheld actual malice findings when the supposed source of the story disclaimed giving the information); see also Celle v. Filipino Reporter Enter., Inc., 209 F.3d 163, 190 (2d Cir.2000) (defendant's self-contradictory testimony about the source of his information supported actual malice finding). By pleading Libel and Libel per se separately, they used Libel as a shorthand for libel per quodmuch as the Hancock court used defamation as a shorthand for defamation per quod. See id. Unlike the current trend of local news being acquired by private equity firms and national chains, we have been a family-controlled company for over 135 years. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 66 n.12 (the distinctions among the varying burdens of proof as to truth or falsity are less material at summary judgment). The Texas Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit Friday in which a couple claimed The Dallas Morning News defamed them when it published a column disclosing their decision to omit information about their teenage son's suicide from a paid obituary. Yet we're nearly blind to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence. A reasonable juror could conclude that Blow was not honest when he testified about the sources of his information about Paul's death. A Dallas County trial court initially dismissed the lawsuit against The News. Because we see no matching argument in appellees' amended motion for summary judgment, that argument is not properly before us. 73.002(b)(2). See DuncanHubert v. Mitchell, 310 S.W.3d 92, 103 (Tex.App.Dallas 2010, pet. 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. filed). Admiralty & Maritime Law 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. A no-evidence summary judgment should be reversed if the evidence is sufficient for reasonable and fair-minded jurors to differ in their conclusions. Am. But it's such a missed opportunity to educate.. But the court went on to hold that "to the extent that the column states that the Tatums acted deceptively, it is true." The Tatums' live pleading asserted Libel as count 1 and Libel per se as count 2. We also agree with the Tatums' second and third points that a person of ordinary intelligence could construe the column to suggest that Paul suffered from mental illness, and that the Tatums turned a blind eye to it and may have missed an opportunity to intervene and save his life. b. The trial court granted Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' action under the Texas Citizens Participation Act. Posted By : / chsaa basketball rule book /; Under :international cultureinternational culture If a publication is of ambiguous or doubtful import, however, the jury must determine its meaning. 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. b. 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. The Dallas Morning News published the obituary on May 21, 2010. Sympathy Ideas. DMN did not commit a deceptive act in connection with a consumer transaction or that was a producing cause of any damages to the Tatums. On that occasion, he said, he attempted to contact the author of one of the obituaries. Texas Supreme Court at 1019. 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. See id. b. But averting our eyes from the reality of suicide only puts more lives at risk. We construe an allegedly defamatory publication as a whole in light of the surrounding circumstances and based on how a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive it. Environmental Law endstream endobj 187 0 obj <> endobj 188 0 obj <> endobj 189 0 obj <>stream at 10. One was an email to Blow in which the author wrote, He [Paul] was a popular and accomplished young man and many people understood to whom you referred.. My column told them nothing they didn't already know. And, in his deposition, Blow testified that he thought that people who knew both what the obituary said and that Paul shot himself would recognize the reference in his column. About three months later, they filed an amended traditional and no-evidence summary judgment motion. The court did not state the basis for any of its rulings. We disagree. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, PETITIONERS, v. JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM, RESPONDENTS No. Id. In that regard, the statement must point to the plaintiff and to no one else. 71-288 Decided by Burger Court Lower court United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Citation 408 US 1 (1972) Argued Mar 27, 1972 Decided Jun 26, 1972 Advocates Did you know that almost twice as many people die each year from suicide as from homicide? The Tatums argue that an accusation of deception is verifiable and therefore actionable, while appellees argue that it is not. In response to Johns's dismissal motion under the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Misko filed affidavits by five people who testified that they knew Misko and believed that the post was directed at her. 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. The Tatums' DTPA claims are based on 17.46(b)(24) of the DTPA, which provides that it is a false, misleading, or deceptive act or practice to fail [] to disclose information concerning goods or services which was known at the time of the transaction if such failure to disclose such information was intended to induce the consumer into a transaction into which the consumer would not have entered had the information been disclosed. Tex. 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. The court of appeals reversed, holding that the column was reasonably capable of defamatory meaning and that the column was not a non-actionable opinion. 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. We recently cited Lipsky and placed the burden of proving falsity on the plaintiff in a libel case involving the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Civ. Prac. The email address cannot be subscribed. The Tatums sued both appellees for libel and libel per se. We agree that the column's gist associates the obituary with deception, which denotes an intention to deceive, often for personal advantage. Banking When art expert Ted Pillsbury died in March, his company said he suffered an apparent heart attack on a country road in Kaufman County. Id. The column was privileged as a fair, true, and impartial account of official proceedings. Appellees also assert that the obituary's omission of Paul's suicide shows that it was in fact a deception. But as discussed above, deception implies intent to deceive, and the Tatums raised a genuine fact issue as to whether they had such an intent. 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. 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. Herald, Inc., No. Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 591. They're frustrated when obits don't say. The Tatums argue that the service at issue is publishing the obituary. Appellees won a take-nothing summary judgment. (a publication qualified for the privilege only if it purported to be, and was, only a fair, true and impartial report of what was stated at a city council meeting). at 64. Intellectual Property Government Contracts at 66. Id. Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 114. To the extent West is similar to the instant case, we disagree with it. Defamation has two forms: slander and libel. The Dallas Morning News published the obituary on May 21, 2010. In Tatum v. The Dallas Morning News, Inc., No. Government & Administrative Law Neely, however, submitted evidence that he had not actually operated on patients while taking or using dangerous drugs or controlled substances. 1992, writ dism'd w.o.j.) The above parts alone could cause a person of ordinary intelligence to read the column as accusing the Tatums of deceit by writing an obituary that stated a false cause of Paul's death and concealed the true cause of his death (for their own self-benefit and to the detriment of society as a whole). There is also evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could conclude that Blow had a motive to avoid learning any additional facts about Paul's death. endstream endobj startxref Appellants John and Mary Ann Tatum sued appellees Steve Blow and The Dallas Morning News (DMN) for libel regarding a column that Blow wrote and DMN published one month after the Tatums' son Paul committed suicide. 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. We are unpersuaded. The Tatums also filed copies of a number of emails bearing on the subject. See id. These matters create a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column's contents would have warned a reasonably prudent publisher of its defamatory potential. Although the Tatums' mental states when they wrote the obituary may not be susceptible of direct proof, we conclude that they are sufficiently verifiable through circumstantial evidence, such as the investigation into the possible causes for Paul's suicide that the Tatums undertook, to make the column's defamatory gist about them verifiable under Milkovich and Neely. Because we conclude that the evidence raised a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was true or substantially true regarding the Tatums, we need not decide which side had the burden of proof. See id. Appellees, however, counter that no ordinary reader would think the column defames the Tatums. Based on his investigation and experience, Kass concluded that Paul sustained a brain injury in the auto accident and that Paul would not have committed suicide but for the car accident and brain injury. The evidence also showed that their friends, recognizing that the column was about the Tatums, contacted them and told them about the column. His testimony demonstrates his training and expertise in the field of accident reconstruction. 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. One month later, on Father's Day, June 20, 2010, DMN published a column written by Blow. Prac. But private figures suing a media defendant (as we have here) must prove only negligence to recover defamation damages. %%EOF Election Law Class Action Appellees also argue that the column cannot reasonably be read to suggest that Paul had a mental illness. 3 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." 4 V. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, Appellees . We agree with the Tatums. at *1314. Health Care Law This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. They also sued DMN for DTPA violations. The column's headline was Shrouding suicide leaves its danger unaddressed. (Emphasis added). Cf. 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) After the accident, he began sending incoherent text messages to friends. Subscribe to Justia's Id. That question remains to be decided by the factfinder. In this context, actual malice means knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the falsity of a statement. Tax Law 73.001. Neely's substantial truth analysis is instructive. We thus conclude that Denton Publishing Co. is still controlling law. Did appellees conclusively prove the fair comment privilege? We assume without deciding that the defamatory publication in this case generally involved a matter of public concern (preventing suicides), and the Tatums do not dispute that appellees are media defendants. We held that these affidavits provided clear and specific evidence that the post was about Misko, even though Misko was not named in it. They state that several paragraphs separate the column's description of Paul's suicide from its discussion of mental illness. Newspapers, Inc. v. Matthews, 339 S.W.2d 890, 893 (Tex.1960). To support their premise, appellees point to evidence that some people in the community were discussing Paul's suicide before the column was published. Criminal Law Appellees, however, cite several cases from other jurisdictions to support their argument that the column's gist is an unverifiable opinion. We determine substantial truth by assessing the publication's gist. See id. 5. 051400951CV, 2015 WL 5156908, at *5, *8 (Tex.App.Dallas Aug. 28, 2015, pet. The Tatums purchased a space in the Dallas Morning News to publish an obituary for their son. 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.) Daily resource for best restaurants in Dallas, recommendations for things to do, local news and commentary on life in Dallas. at 187. 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.). There was no evidence that appellees published a statement that was defamatory or that any defamatory statement was of and concerning the Tatums. at 62 ([S]tatements that are not verifiable as false cannot form the basis of a defamation claim.); see also Bentley v. Bunton, 94 S.W.3d 561, 57985 (Tex.2002) (accusations that a judge was corrupt were sufficiently verifiable to constitute actionable statements of fact). The official Dallas Morning News Twitter account. We long ago stated that it is the settled law of Texas, that a false statement of fact concerning a public officer, even if made in a discussion of matters of public concern, is not privileged as fair comment.. Based on his investigation, he concluded that the primary impact involved in the accident was moderate to severe, and that the accident was severe enough that it would have subjected a human occupant of the vehicle to, at a very minimum, the risk of a mild TBI [traumatic brain injury], such as a concussion.. Because these privileges are affirmative defenses, see Denton Publ'g Co. v. Boyd, 460 S.W.2d 881, 882, 885 (Tex.1970) (interpreting predecessor statute to 73.002), appellees' summary judgment motion had to conclusively prove their elements to prevail.6. Our decision in Backes v. Misko, No. Believing that Paul's suicide was caused by a brain injury he sustained in the earlier automobile accident, the Tatums stated in the obituary that Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The obituary was published on May 21, 2010. 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. From the people we hire to the way we work, let them tell you how we are different. Speech deals with matters of public concern when it can be fairly considered as relating to any matter of political, social, or other concern to the community or when it is a subject of legitimate news interest; that is, a subject of general interest and of value and concern to the public Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 453 (2011) (internal quotations and citations omitted). 700 the dvd+ dvd+ monkey monkey the yellow yellow 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. As explained above, a false gist is substantially true and nonactionable if it is no more damaging to the plaintiff's reputation than a truthful publication would have been. 27.001.011. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that appellees acted with the necessary degree of culpability? OPINION . In light of Milkovich, Neely, and Bentley, we conclude that the column's gist that the Tatums were deceptive when they wrote Paul's obituary is sufficiently verifiable to be actionable in defamation. Accordingly, there is expert evidence supporting the Tatums' theory that Paul suffered a brain injury that made him suicidal. 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." See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 72. denied), further supports this conclusion. The court then vacated its judgment and stayed the case pending the resolution of a defamation case then pending in the Texas Supreme Court. Based on the above, we conclude that the expert affidavits are not speculative and the trial court did not err by overruling appellees' objections. at 571; see also Einhorn v. LaChance, 823 S.W.2d 405, 411 (Tex.App.Houston [1st Dist.] (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.). 05-14-01017-CV JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM, Appellants . 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Lachance, 823 S.W.2d 405, 411 ( Tex.App.Houston [ 1st Dist. is for... Case pending the resolution of a statement protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and dallas morning news v tatum oyez of apply. Not properly before us a fair, true, and impartial account of proceedings. Motion for summary judgment should be reversed if the evidence is sufficient for reasonable and fair-minded to... Intention to deceive, often for personal advantage the reasons discussed below, we conclude their... The extent West is similar to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence that! Or reckless disregard for, the statement must point to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence we no. 1St Dist. falsity of a defamation claim meaning is initially a question for reasons! The sources of his information about Paul 's suicide from its discussion of illness! 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