Telnikoff v. Matusevitch

• Citation: 702 A.2d 230,347 Md. 561
• Decision Date: 01 September 1996
• Docket Number: No. 3,3
• Parties: , 25 Media L. Rep. 2473 Vladimir Ivanovich TELNIKOFF v. Vladimir MATUSEVITCH. Misc.,
• Court: Court of Appeals of Maryland

Page 561

347 Md. 561

702 A.2d 230, 25 Media L. Rep. 2473

Vladimir Ivanovich TELNIKOFF v. Vladimir MATUSEVITCH.

Misc. No. 3, Sept. Term, 1996.

Court of Appeals of Maryland.

Nov. 10, 1997.

Forrest A. Hainline, III, Washington, DC, for Appellant

Arnon D. Siegel (Patrick J. Carome, Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, Guy Miller Struve, Davis Polk & Wardell, on brief), Washington, DC, for Appellee.

Laura R. Handman, (Lankenau Kovner Kurtz & Outten, L.L.P., on brief), Washington, DC, for Amicus Curiae.

Robert D. Balin, on the brief, New York City, for Amicus Curiae.

Argued before MURPHY, C.J., ^* and ELDRIDGE, RODOWSKY, CHASANOW, KARWACKI,* BELL and RAKER, JJ.

ELDRIDGE, Judge.

The issue presented in this certified question case is whether a particular English libel judgment, under the circumstances presented, is contrary to the public policy of Maryland so that it should be denied recognition under principles of comity.

I.

Vladimir Matusevitch, now a Maryland resident, was born to parents of Belarusan Jewish descent in New York City in 1936. In 1940, Matusevitch moved to Russia where he remained until 1968 when he defected to Norway and received political asylum. Between 1969 and 1992, Matusevitch worked in several countries as a journalist for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), a publicly-funded American corporation that broadcasts to listeners in Eastern Europe and countries formerly under Soviet control. Matusevitch presently works at RFE/RL's corporate headquarters in the District of Columbia.

Vladimir Telnikoff, an English citizen, was born in Leningrad in 1937 and remained there until 1971, when he emigrated to Israel. The following year, Telnikoff began working as a freelance writer and broadcaster for the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in London. In 1983, Telnikoff became employed as a journalist at RFE/RL in Munich, Germany.

On February 13, 1984, an article written by Telnikoff was published in the London Daily Telegraph, headed "Selecting the Right Wavelength to Tune in to Russia." The article stated in pertinent part as follows:

"But still, after three decades of gradually becoming aware of the significance of Russian language broadcasting, I believe [the BBC's] general concept has never been set right. It continues to reflect the fatal confusion of the West, which has yet to clarify to itself whether it is threatened by Russia or by Communism. We fail to understand that Communism is as alien to the religious and national aspirations of the Russian people as those of any other nation.

"This confusion further manifests itself in the policy of recruitment for the Russian Service. While other services are staffed almost exclusively from those who share the ethnic origin of the people to whom they broadcast, the Russian Service is recruited almost entirely from Russian-speaking national minorities of the Soviet empire, and has something like 10 per cent of those who associate themselves ethnically, spiritually or religiously with Russian people. However high the standards and integrity of that majority there is no more logic in this than having a Greek service which is 90 per cent recruited from the Greek-speaking Turkish community of Cyprus.

"When broadcasting to other East European countries, we recognize them to be enslaved from outside, and better able to withstand alien, Russian, Communism through our assertion of their own national spirit and traditions. However, this approach leaves room for flirting with Euro-communism or 'socialism with a human (non-Russian) face' as a desirable further alternative, and well suits the Left in the West.

"Resisting the ideological advance of Communism by encouraging anti-Russian feelings is of less obvious value with a Russian audience. Making 'Russian' synonymous with 'Communist' alienates the sympathetic Russian listeners. It stirs up social resentment in others against the Russians. Making those word synonymous also makes sympathy for Russian into support for the Communist system."

In response, a letter written by Matusevitch, entitled "Qualifications for Broadcasting to Russia," was published in the "Sir--Having read 'Selecting the Right Wavelength to Tune in to Russia' (Feb 13) I was shocked, particularly by the part on alleged inadequacies of the BBC's Russian Service recruitment policies.

Daily Telegraph on February 18, 1984. It was as follows (emphasis in original):

"Mr. Vladimir Telnikoff says: 'While other services are staffed almost exclusively from those who share the ethnic origin of the people to whom they broadcast, the Russian Service is recruited almost entirely from Russian-speaking national minorities of the Soviet empire.'

"Mr. Telnikoff must certainly be aware that the majority of new emigres from Russia are people who grew up, studied and worked in Russia, who have Russian as their mother tongue and have only one culture--Russian.

"People with Jewish blood in their veins were never allowed by the Soviet authorities to feel themselves equal with people of the same language, culture and way of life. Insulted and humiliated by this paranoiac situation, desperate victims of these Soviet racialist (anti-Semitic) policies took the opportunity to emigrate.

"Now the BBC's Russian Service, as well as other similar services of other Western stations broadcasting to Russia, who are interested in new staff members (natives), employ those people in accordance with common democratic procedures, interested in their professional qualifications and not in the blood of the applicants.

"Mr. Telnikoff demands that in the interest of more effective broadcasts the management of the BBC's Russian Service should switch from professional testing to a blood test.

"Mr. Telnikoff is stressing his racialist recipe by claiming that no matter how high the standards and integrity 'of ethnically alien' people Russian staff might be, they should be dismissed.

"I am certain the Daily Telegraph would reject any article with similar suggestions of lack of racial purity of the writer in any normal section of the British media.

"One could expect that the spreading of racialist views would be unacceptable in a British newspaper." ¹ After Matusevitch refused to apologize for his February 18th letter, Telnikoff filed a libel action against Matusevitch in the High Court of Justice, Queen's Bench Division, in London. Matusevitch was absent for the trial on October 5, 1988, and judgment was entered against him in the amount of 65,000 pounds. Subsequently, the High Court of Justice set aside the judgment upon a motion by Matusevitch and set a new trial for May 22, 1989.

At the May 22nd trial, Telnikoff argued that the "natural and ordinary" meaning of the words contained in Matusevitch's letter implied that Telnikoff advocated (1) the use of blood-testing as part of the recruitment policy in the BBC Russian Services, (2) the dismissal of employees of the BBC Russian Service on racial grounds, and (3) racial discrimination and anti-semitic behavior. Matusevitch denied that the letter was defamatory and defended on the ground that the letter constituted "fair comment" on a matter of public interest. ² Matusevitch did not, however, assert truth as a defense. ³ In reply to Matusevitch's "fair comment" defense, Telnikoff asserted that Matusevitch "had been actuated by express At the conclusion of the trial, the High Court of Justice granted Matusevitch's motion for a judgment as a matter of law. Holding that a "reasonable jury" would find that the alleged libel was "comment," the court explained:

malice." ⁴

"Read in the context of the rest of the letter, I think that [Matusevitch] was doing no more than to make the comments that, if [Telnikoff's] views as stated in his article were given effect to, then the logical outcome would be that the BBC would, when interviewing applicants to join the Russian Service, concentrate on the ethnic origins of the applicant rather than their expertise as broadcasters. I think it is clear that [Matusevitch] was using the suggestion of a blood test in a metaphorical sense and in no way suggesting that [Telnikoff] in his article had actually demanded that a blood sample should be taken from anyone.... Mr. Telnikoff had not demanded in his article that any existing staff should actually be dismissed; but by claiming that 90% of the existing staff were unsuitable for the service, I think it is comment rather than a bare statement of fact to state, as the defendant did in his letter, that Mr. Telnikoff was suggesting that those unsuitable staff should be dismissed."

The High Court went on to rule that Matusevitch's comment was objectively "fair," consisted of "a matter of public interest," and that there was no showing of express malice. ⁵

The Court of Appeal affirmed the High Court's judgment on On remand, the High Court of Justice instructed the jury on this issue at a trial commencing March 10, 1992. ⁸ The jury returned a 240,000 pound verdict in favor of Telnikoff, finding that Matusevitch's letter conveyed:

                May 16, 1990. 6  Telnikoff[702 A.2d 235]  appealed to the House of Lords which, on November 14, 1991, affirmed in part, reversed in part and remanded the case.  While affirming the rulings below with regard to malice, the House of Lords set aside the holdings below that Matusevitch's letter was "pure comment."   Lord Keith of Kinkel for the House of Lords reasoned that, in determining whether the letter was comment or fact, the jury should examine the letter by itself and not in context with Telnikoff's article. 7  Accordingly, the House of Lords remanded the case to the High Court of Justice for a jury to decide "whether paragraphs 6 and 7 of [Matusevitch's] letter consisted  
                of pure comment or whether they contained defamatory statements of fact."
                

"1. That [Telnikoff] had made statements inciting racial hatred and/or racial discrimination; [and]

2. That [Telnikoff] was a racialist and /or anti-semite and/or...