Adams v. Daily Telegraph Printing Co.

• Decision Date: 08 December 1986
• Docket Number: No. 0829,0829
• Citation: Adams v. Daily Telegraph Printing Co., 356 S.E.2d 118, 292 S.C. 273 (S.C. App. 1986)
• Court: South Carolina Court of Appeals
• Parties: , 13 Media L. Rep. 2034 William C. ADAMS, Appellant, v. DAILY TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO., d/b/a WBTWTV 13; Eastern Carolinas Broadcasting Co., Inc., d/b/a WPDE TV 15; Bobby L. Hicks and Gwen Cooper Hicks, Respondents.

Page 118

356 S.E.2d 118

292 S.C. 273, 13 Media L. Rep. 2034

William C. ADAMS, Appellant, v. DAILY TELEGRAPH PRINTING CO., d/b/a WBTWTV 13; Eastern Carolinas Broadcasting Co., Inc., d/b/a WPDE TV 15; Bobby L. Hicks and Gwen Cooper Hicks, Respondents.

No. 0829.

Court of Appeals of South Carolina.

Submitted Sept. 24, 1986.

Decided Dec. 8, 1986.

T. Kenneth Summerford and Karl A. Folkens, Florence, for appellant.

D.M. McEachin, Jr., Florence, for Hicks.

Reginald C. Brown, Jr. and Mary Layton Wells, Florence, for Daily Telegraph.

John L. Weaver, Florence, for Eastern Carolinas.

GARDNER, Judge:

William C. Adams (Adams) instituted a defamation action against two individuals and Daily Telegraph Printing Co., d/b/a WBTW TV 13 (TV 13) and Eastern Carolinas Broadcasting Co., Inc., d/b/a WPDE TV 15 (TV 15). Summary judgment was by separate orders awarded TV 13 and TV 15. We reverse.

FACTS

Kent Hicks and Keith Adams, teenage stepbrothers, Kent being the son of respondent Bobby Hicks and Keith the son of respondent Gwen Cooper Hicks, born during her marriage to appellant Adams, were murdered on or about May 6, 1980. The murders were unsolved more than a year later on September 9, 1981; on or about that day TV 13 and TV 15 broadcasted a version of an affair described as a "news conference." Adams contends that the broadcasts implied that Adams had murdered the two teenagers or by refusing to cooperate with the authorities in the investigation of the murders was guilty of a misprision of a felony.

The trial judge had before him on motion for summary judgment an affidavit of Adams which, in effect, says that on September 9, 1981, he heard the following broadcast by TV 13:

JIM GRIFFIN: Two Florence youths, Kent Hicks and Keith Adams were found shot to death on May 6, 1980. Since this time Law Enforcement officials have conducted an on-going investigation into that case. The families of the victims have offered a reward of more than $30,000 for information leading to the conviction of the assailant or assailants. Today the Hicks Family members called a news conference, Carpenter King Reporter.

CARPENTER KING: According to Mr. and Mrs. Bobby Hicks, each a parent of each of the murdered boys, the times since their deaths on May 6, 1980, have been almost unbearable.

GWEN HICKS: Since the day when I walked up those stairs and called them boys that morning and they weren't in those beds, it has been a living nightmare. It really has and it has never ended. It just kept on and on.

CARPENTER KING: The worst of the ordeal, they say, is not knowing what happened to their sons and in spite of a reward offered by the family, there has been no break-through in this case to this date. Mr. Hicks called a news conference this morning at 10:00 A.M. to announce that he and his wife and Harriett and Charlie Hanna, the Mother and Step-Father of Kent Hicks, have volunteered to undergo truth testing or any other interrogation that the Sheriff's Department considers necessary about their part in the case; however, according to Hicks not all the involved parties are willing to undergo the investigation.

BOBBY HICKS: However, we would like to announce that Mr. Adams employed an attorney approximately a year ago and both he and his Attorney, Mr. Kenneth Summerford, have refused to cooperate. The public is free to draw their own conclusion. I don't believe when our forefathers placed the Fifth Amendment in our Constitution that they intended it as a technicality to hide behind in a matter as serious as this, when your own child has been murdered. I would like to stress that I am not asking anybody to do anything I am not willing to do myself.

CARPENTER KING: We ask Florence County Sheriff Billy Barnes to comment on Mr. Hicks [sic] statement.

SHERIFF BILLY BARNES: Of course, until we actually solve or complete this case everybody is still under suspicion.

TV 15, in support of its motion for summary judgment, filed an affidavit by Jerry Condra, General Manager of TV 15, in which he says he is personally aware of the facts and allegations surrounding this litigation and that their publication was limited to the following:

JAN PATE: More than sixteen months have passed since the murders of Florence County Teenagers Kent Hicks and Keith Adams.

Police have found no motive for the killings, and have made no arrests in connection with the case.

Jeannie Griffin is here to fill us in on the latest development in the case.

JEANNIE GRIFFIN: Bobby and Gwen Hicks have a nice home in the Huntington area.... They have four daughters, one of whom lives with them ... But until May 6th of last year, the couple spent much of their time with their two sons.... Kent Hicks and Keith Adams ... on that date, the boys were found dead.... the victims of a brutal murder.... as of yet unsolved.

The police and sheriff departments have looked into the case.... so far no suspects and any leads into the case are a well kept secret ... But tension still exists, as does grief, in the families of these two boys.... Today, Bobby Hicks and his Wife told the news media they want no stone left unturned ... and they have offered to be questioned by law enforcement authorities through hypnosis or truth serum to clear themselves and prove their innocence....

BOBBY HICKS: The public is free to draw their own conclusions. I don't believe, when our forefathers placed the Fifth Amendment in our Constitution, that they intended it as a technicality to hide behind in a matter as serious as this, when your own child has been murdered. I would like to stress that I am not asking anybody to do anything I'm not willing to do myself.

JEANNIE GRIFFIN: (Studio) I might also mention that the families of these boys offered a reward for information leading to arrests in the case.... That amount, Al, of Thirty Thousand Dollars, is still up for grabs.... and I'm sure the family and the authorities would welcome any clues to help solve these murders....

TV 15 also filed an affidavit of its employee, Janet Morrow Pate, to the effect that the name of William C. Adams was not mentioned on the broadcast.

Opposing these affidavits, Adams filed, inter alia, affidavit of T. Kenneth Summerford, his attorney, to the effect that on September 20, 1981, Summerford wrote a letter to Mr. Jerry Condra, Manager of TV 15, and that Condra replied to this letter stating that in addition to the script above set forth, the following statement by Mr. Hicks was broadcasted.

We requested that Sheriff Barnes contact Mr. William C. (Billy) Adams, father of Keith Adams, and ask him if he wished to join us.

However, we would like to announce that Mr. Adams employed an attorney approximately a year ago and both he and his attorney, Mr. Kenneth Summerford, have refused to cooperate.

The public is free to draw their own conclusions.

I don't believe, when our forefathers placed the Fifth Amendment in our Constitution, that they intended it as a technicality to hide behind in a matter as serious as this, when your own child has been murdered. I would like to stress that I am not asking anybody to do anything I'm not willing to do myself.

The appealed order granting summary judgment to TV 13 disregarded the alleged innuendo and found that the facts stated in the TV 13 broadcast were true and held that truth was a complete defense. As a further ground for granting summary judgment in favor of TV 13, the order held that TV 13 was protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution under the Hot News Doctrine as announced in the case of Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 87 S.Ct. 1975, 18 L.Ed.2d 1094 (1967); and that in view of that doctrine, there was nothing to lead the court to believe that the reporter and TV 13 departed from any reasonable standard of investigation and nothing to show that the broadcast was made on information furnished by an unreliable source without further verification.

The order granting summary judgment in favor of TV 15 also disregarded the alleged innuendo and found that the facts stated in the TV 15 broadcast were true and that the truth was a complete defense. This order also found that the name of Adams was not mentioned in the broadcast and that TV 15 has in no way acted negligently or with malice or recklessness in making the broadcast.

The trial court disregarded the affidavit of T. Kenneth Summerford in making its decision; the order settling the...