Brooks v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.
| Decision Date | 20 July 1993 |
| Docket Number | No. 91-3948,91-3948 |
| Citation | 999 F.2d 167 |
| Parties | 21 Media L. Rep. 1756 William Gordon BROOKS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. AMERICAN BROADCASTING COMPANIES, INC.; Geraldo Rivera; Charles C. Thompson; and Maravilla Production, Inc., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit |
David L. Jamison, John L. Wolfe (argued and briefed), Akron, OH, for plaintiff-appellant.
Carolyn K. Seymour, Elizabeth A. Rader, Terence J. Clark (argued and briefed), Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, Cleveland, OH, for defendants-appellees.
Before: RYAN and NORRIS, Circuit Judges; and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.
Plaintiff William Brooks appeals from the district court's directed verdict and partial summary judgment for defendants in this diversity action alleging libel and slander in the broadcast of a weekly television news program. Brooks raises the following issues:
1. Whether the district court erred in deciding a motion for directed verdict under Fed.R.Civ.P. 50(a) based on state, rather than federal, substantive law.
2. Whether the district court erred in granting a directed verdict to the defendants.
3. Whether the district court erred in suppressing the plaintiff's expert witness testimony designed to show the journalistic standard of care applicable to the defendant network news organization.
4. Whether the district court erred in granting partial summary judgment to the defendants as to the videotape footage of the plaintiff's flight from defendant Geraldo Rivera.
Finding no reversible error in the district court's disposition of these issues, we shall affirm.
This dispute arises from the broadcast of a report entitled "Injustice for All" on ABC's weekly news program 20/20. The gist of Brooks's complaint is that he was falsely labled a "hit man" on this program by 20/20 's reporter, Geraldo Rivera. The following factual background is taken largely from Brooks v. American Broadcasting Cos., 737 F.Supp. 431 (N.D.Ohio 1990) (Brooks I ), and this court's opinion in Brooks v. American Broadcasting Cos., 932 F.2d 495, 496-97 (6th Cir.1991) (Brooks II ).
Television personality Geraldo Rivera, at the time a reporter for ABC's weekly program 20/20, traveled to Akron, Ohio, in early 1980 to investigate rumors that an Ohio state judge, James Barbuto, persuaded several women to have sex with him by offering them favorable rulings in certain cases. Rivera apparently was tipped off by two Akron police officers that Brooks, an Akron resident with a substantial criminal background, was assisting Judge Barbuto by attempting to frighten the women so that they would not testify against Barbuto if he were criminally charged.
Rivera persuaded Brooks to meet with him at an Akron hotel on April 1, 1980. As soon as Brooks got out of his taxi in front of the hotel, Rivera appeared with a camera and audio crew and began barraging Brooks with a series of questions concerning Brook's suspected role as a "hit man" for the judge. After this questioning, and after muttering some obscenities, Brooks fled, with Rivera and the camera crew in hot pursuit.
On ABC's April 17, 1990 broadcast of 20/20, excerpts from Rivera's questioning of Brooks were aired. The "Injustice for All" report also included negative comments from other persons concerning Brooks and his alleged involvement with Barbuto. These individuals, principally the women who had been the targets of Brooks's alleged intimidations, referred to Brooks variously as a "hit man," "pimp," "muscleman," "street knowledgeable jive turkey," and that he was "betrayed" by the judge. In all, five persons spoke about Brooks's involvement with the judge.
Before the broadcast of the 20/20 segment, a grand jury had indicted both Brooks and Barbuto on charges related to obstruction of justice arising from the witness intimidations and other charges. Brooks pleaded guilty to the obstruction of justice charges and was subsequently convicted. He is now serving a 19 year prison sentence for obstruction of justice, and for unrelated convictions for felonious assault and possession of a firearm.
Over the years, police had taken Brooks into custody 20 times on suspicion of various misdeeds, several of which resulted in formal charges for which he was convicted. Adverse publicity had also severely compromised Brooks's reputation prior to the 20/20 broadcast. The Akron Beacon Journal publicized Brooks's convictions in four articles. In addition to reporting the convictions, the Beacon Journal also noted Brooks's "involvement" in a 1979 Akron slaying. Ten days before the 20/20 broadcast, the newspaper reported Brooks's indictment for intimidation of witnesses and obstruction of justice in relation to the judge, referring to Brooks as "[t]he man police suspect as being the so-called 'hit-man' in the sex case involving [Judge Barbuto]...."
Former Judge Barbuto was charged with 26 offenses, including: assault with intent to commit rape, obstruction of justice, intimidation, keeping a place for prostitution, and several counts of bribery. Barbuto was subsequently convicted on all charges and is now serving a prison sentence.
In 1981, Brooks filed a complaint in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, invoking diversity jurisdiction, and alleging that Rivera, producer Charles Thompson, Maravilla Production, Rivera's company, and ABC libeled him by broadcasting derogatory and allegedly false remarks. Brooks sought $20 million in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitive damages. Brooks then sought to amend his original complaint to allege violations of 18 U.S.C. § 2511, unlawful use of electronic devices to intercept statements, and 42 U.S.C. §§ 1981, 1985, deprivation of constitutional rights. Brooks continued to seek $40 million in damages, as well as attorneys' fees.
The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment. The district court denied Brooks's motion to amend, and granted summary judgment for defendants with respect to the claims in the original complaint. The district court found that Brooks's reputation was so tarnished that a recovery for injured reputation was precluded. Brooks appealed to this court from the summary judgment and from the denial of his motion to amend.
In Brooks II, we affirmed the district court's denial of Brooks's motion to amend, agreeing that Brooks failed to state actionable claims for his civil rights actions or for violation of statutes prohibiting the recording of private oral communications. However, we reversed the district court's summary judgment on the state libel count, holding that the district court erred in granting summary judgment to the defendants based on its determination that Brooks's reputation was so tarnished as to preclude recovery. We held that such a determination was a question for the jury, and stated further that the district court may conclude that a trial is necessary to resolve the question of Brooks's libel-proofness. On the other hand, the district court may grant summary judgment for defendants on the basis of one or more of the several alternative grounds, not based upon the libel-proof concept, that defendants have advanced.
On remand, the defendants moved for summary judgment on several of these "alternative grounds." They contended that the allegedly defamatory statements were protected by the fair report and neutral report privileges, that the gist of the statements was true, and that the visual image of Brooks fleeing from the cameras was not a basis for a cognizable defamation claim. While denying the rest of the defendants' motions for summary judgment, the district court granted summary judgment as to the visual image claim, ruling that the visual image of Brooks fleeing could not be a basis for a defamation claim.
On September 5, 1991, the remaining issues in the case went to trial. At the conclusion of Brooks's evidence, the defendants moved for a directed verdict on the grounds that a reasonable fact finder could not conclude that Brooks had proven fault--an essential element of his case. The district court granted the motion.
Brooks perfected a timely appeal, challenging the district court's grant of partial summary judgment, and its directed verdict for the defendants.
Brooks's first assignment of error is that the district court erred by applying the Ohio law governing the entry of directed verdicts. While Brooks concedes that the case law of this circuit supports the district court's analysis, he urges this court to hold that when assessing a motion for a directed verdict in a diversity case, this court should apply the federal standard of sufficiency of the evidence, not its state law counterpart.
The defendants contend that the district court correctly applied Ohio law in deciding the question of sufficiency of the evidence in the wake of the motion for directed verdict. They point to our recent decision in Miller's Bottled Gas, Inc. v. Borg-Warner Corp., 955 F.2d 1043 (6th Cir.1992).
Application of substantive and procedural law by the district court is a legal determination that we review de novo. Cf. Smith v. Commissioner, 937 F.2d 1089, 1096 (6th Cir.1991).
While the circuit courts have not adopted a uniform approach to the application of directed verdict law, in this circuit the rule is well settled. This court has repeatedly held that the law governing the legal analysis for directed verdict motions in federal diversity cases is state law. See, e.g., Miller's Bottled Gas, 955 F.2d 1043, 1050; O'Neal v. Burger Chef Sys., Inc., 860 F.2d 1341, 1347 (6th Cir.1988); Gold v. National Sav. Bank of Albany, 641 F.2d 430, 434 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 826, 102 S.Ct. 116, 70 L.Ed.2d 100 (1981); Lones v. Detroit, Toledo & Ironton R.R. Co., 398 F.2d 914, 918-19 (6th Cir.1968), cert. denied, 393 U.S. 1063, 89 S.Ct. 714, 21 L.Ed.2d 705 (1969). Under this court's cases,...
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