MacGuire v. Harriscope Broadcasting Co., s. 5051

• Decision Date: 14 May 1980
• Docket Number: Nos. 5051,5052,s. 5051
• Citation: 612 P.2d 830
• Parties: 6 Media L. Rep. 1257 John MacGUIRE, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. HARRISCOPE BROADCASTING CO., an Illinois Corporation dba KTWO Radio and Television, Jack Rosenthal and Robert Price, Appellees (Defendants below). Neil McMURRY, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. HARRISCOPE BROADCASTING CO., an Illinois Corporation dba KTWO Radio and Television, Jack Rosenthal and Robert Price, Appellees (Defendants below).
• Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Page 830

612 P.2d 830

6 Media L. Rep. 1257

John MacGUIRE, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. HARRISCOPE BROADCASTING CO., an Illinois Corporation dba KTWO Radio and Television, Jack Rosenthal and Robert Price, Appellees (Defendants below).

Neil McMURRY, Appellant (Plaintiff below), v. HARRISCOPE BROADCASTING CO., an Illinois Corporation dba KTWO Radio and Television, Jack Rosenthal and Robert Price, Appellees (Defendants below).

Nos. 5051, 5052.

Supreme Court of Wyoming.

May 14, 1980.

Daniel M. Burke of Burke & Horn, Casper, for appellants.

Wm. H. Brown and Claude W. Martin of Brown, Drew, Apostolos, Massey & Sullivan, Casper, for appellees.

Before RAPER, C. J., and McCLINTOCK, THOMAS, ROSE and ROONEY, JJ.

THOMAS, Justice.

The question presented in this appeal is the application of the actual-malice rule promulgated in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 279, 84 S.Ct. 710, 726, 11 L.Ed.2d 686, 95 A.L.R.2d 1412 (1964), in connection with a motion for summary judgment by the broadcaster of the allegedly defamatory material. The actions of the plaintiffs were premised upon some six editorials broadcast by the defendants over both television and radio in July, August, September and December of 1976. (Transcripts of these editorial comments are appended as Appendices A through F of this opinion.) The district court granted the motions for summary judgment filed by the broadcasting company and the individual defendants. It reached its decision by analyzing the record to determine if there was present, under the appropriate standard, evidence from which the finder of fact might conclude that the allegedly false statements were made with actual knowledge of the falsity or reckless disregard as to the falsity. It concluded that the material presented to the court on the record was not sufficient under the applicable standard to establish a prima facie case. We shall affirm the judgment of the district court.

In processing their joint appeals John MacGuire and Neil McMurry state the issue presented for review as follows:

"Whether the evidence, taken in the light most favorable to Appellants and drawing all reasonable inference therefrom could establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the statements were libelous statements of and concerning the Appellants and could establish with convincing clarity that the statements were published with actual malice."

The appellees state the question in this appeal as follows:

"Is there any evidence in the record that proves the defendants-appellees in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of the facts upon which KTWO editorialized?"

These respective statements of the issue by the parties encompass an appropriate capsulization of the applicable rules.

We shall begin with a summary of the pertinent law. The rule promulgated by the Supreme Court of the United States in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra, has been espoused by this Court in Phifer v. Foe, Wyo., 443 P.2d 870 (1968), and Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, Wyo., 555 P.2d 556 (1976). In Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra, we recognized and applied the concept that the best procedural protection for freedom of speech, or of the press, the constitutional rights the rule with respect to actual malice was designed to protect, is to be found in the remedy of summary judgment which the courts have utilized freely in such cases. It is said to be the most appropriate remedy in order to minimize the chilling effect of litigation and the associated expense and inconvenience surrounding that litigation upon the exercise of the First Amendment rights. Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra, at page 566; Southard v. Forbes, Inc., 588 F.2d 140 (5th Cir. 1979).

For convenience we reiterate the rule set forth in New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra "The constitutional guarantees require, we think, a federal rule that prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with 'actual malice' that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. * * * "

In Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra, we also adopted and applied the definition set forth in St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323, 1325, 20 L.Ed.2d 262 (1968), of reckless disregard of whether the statement was false or not as follows:

"There must be sufficient evidence to permit the conclusion that the defendant in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of his publication."

This test has been stated in the alternative as the subjective awareness on the part of the publisher of the probable falsity of the published information. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 94 S.Ct. 2997, 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974). In the period of time since Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra, was decided the rule of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra, and its progeny has not changed in any significant way. E. g., Herbert v. Lando, 441 U.S. 153, 99 S.Ct. 1635, 60 L.Ed.2d 115 (1979); Wolston v. Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 443 U.S. 157, 99 S.Ct. 2701, 61 L.Ed.2d 450 (1979); Chuy v. Philadelphia Eagles Football Club, 595 F.2d 1265 (3rd Cir. 1979); Southard v. Forbes, Inc., supra; Manuel v. Fort Collins Newspapers, Inc., Colo.App., 599 P.2d 931 (1979); Bandelin v. Pietsch, 98 Idaho 337, 563 P.2d 395 (1977); Madison v. Yunker, Mont., 589 P.2d 126 (1978).

These are the legal standards relating to actual malice which are applicable to the right of either MacGuire or McMurry to recover judgment against the defendants, the appellees in our court. It is with respect to the application of these standards that the parties have joined issue in this appeal. The application of these concepts when a motion for summary judgment is presented to the court leads to an analytical method which is somewhat different from that in the usual case. The court must, of course, analyze the record to determine if there are any issues of material fact. Weaver v. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Wyoming, Wyo., 609 P.2d 984 (1980); Johnson v. Soulis, Wyo., 542 P.2d 867 (1975). It then should examine the facts in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, and give the plaintiff the benefit of any inferences that reasonably may be drawn from those facts. Weaver v. Blue Cross-Blue Shield of Wyoming, supra; Bon Air Hotel, Inc. v. Time, Inc., 426 F.2d 858 (5th Cir. 1970); Buchanan v. Associated Press, 398 F.Supp. 1196 (D.D.C.1975). The court then must arrive at a conclusion as to whether the facts as so analyzed would justify a conclusion in a trial to a jury, or by the court sitting without a jury, that the plaintiff had established a prima facie case of actual malice. More directly the question is whether on the basis of the evidence included in the record for purposes of the motion for summary judgment the finder of fact, under a standard of convincing clarity, could conclude that the "defamatory" information had been published with knowledge that it was false or that the defendant in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of the publication. Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra; United Medical Laboratories v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., 404 F.2d 706 (9th Cir. 1968), cert. den. 394 U.S. 921, 89 S.Ct. 1197, 22 L.Ed.2d 454 (1969); Buchanan v. Associated Press, supra; Manuel v. Fort Collins Newspapers, Inc., Colo.App., 599 P.2d 931 (1979); Kidder v. Anderson, La., 354 So.2d 1306 (1978); Chase v. Daily Record, Inc., 83 Wash.2d 37, 515 P.2d 154 (1973). We believe the trial court was on sound ground when it indicated that the failure of the appellants to produce information which would establish such a prima facie case if presented in a trial led to the granting of a motion for summary judgment by the court. It follows in a case such as this, that even though there may be issues of fact disclosed by the record, if the version claimed by the plaintiff does not satisfy the standard of convincing clarity that precludes any such issue Of course, as the case comes before us, as we have said many times, we have substantially the same task as the trial court. We must analyze the information in the record to determine whether there are any issues of material fact which require a trial. In reaching that determination we must decide whether the information which is either undisputed or with respect to which we adopt the plaintiff's version together with the reasonable inferences to be drawn therefrom would permit a trial judge to submit this case to a jury pursuant to an instruction that actual malice must be established with convincing clarity. Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra. We now shall review the information upon which our conclusion to affirm the district court is based.

of fact from being an issue of a material fact, and the court still would grant the motion for summary judgment. Bandelin v. Pietsch, supra. See Adams v. Frontier Broadcasting Company, supra; United Medical Laboratories v. Columbia Broadcasting System, Inc., supra; Buchanan v. Associated Press, supra; Tagawa v. Maui Publishing Company, 50 Hawaii 648, 448 P.2d 337 (1968); Chase v. Daily Record, Inc., supra.

Both MacGuire and McMurry admit that they are public officials for purposes of invoking the rule of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra. MacGuire served as a member of the Natrona County Airport Board from July 1, 1971, through the period covered by the accused editorials. He was president of the board from about 1973 to July 1, 1976. McMurry served as a member of the Natrona County Airport Board from 1974 through the period of the accused editorials.

The primary focus of the editorials which led to the filing of these defamation cases is upon the lease of a hangar at Natrona County Airport by MacGuire. MacGuire actually signed the lease as President of Natrona Service, Inc....