Bryan v. News Corp.
| Decision Date | 06 February 2018 |
| Docket Number | B275567 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | JOHN BRYAN, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. NEWS CORPORATION et al., Defendants and Appellants. |
NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE OFFICIAL REPORTS
California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.
(Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. BC596705)
APPEAL from an order of the Superior Court of Los Angeles County, Marc R. Marmaro, Judge. Affirmed in part and reversed in part with directions.
Davis Wright Tremaine, Alonzo Wickers IV, Nicolas A. Jampol, and Diana Palacios for Defendants and Appellants.
Affeld Grivakes and Christopher Grivakes for Plaintiff and Respondent.
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On October 8, 1995, the now-defunct British tabloid, News of the World, published an article accusing plaintiff John Bryan of criminal conduct. Bryan, who gained notoriety in the early 1990's because of his relationship with Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, did not file suit. Nineteen years later, on November 12, 2014, the BBC current affairs television program Panorama aired an exposé of some of the deceitful and illegal tactics used by News of the World reporters, especially defendant Mazher Mahmood. Bryan's story was included as an example of News of the World's unscrupulous tactics. During Bryan's segment on the show, the headline from the 1995 article appeared on screen.
On October 1, 2015, Bryan filed this lawsuit against News of the World's publisher, defendant News Group Newspapers Limited, its parent corporations, defendants News Corporation and News Corp UK & Ireland Limited, and Mahmood, alleging causes of action for libel, invasion of privacy, illegal recording in violation of Penal Code sections 632 and 637.2 (§§ 632 & 637.2), and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage.
Defendants filed anti-SLAPP motions (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation; Code Civ. Proc., § 425.16 (§ 426.16)). The trial court denied the motions, and this appeal followed. We conclude the statute of limitations bars Bryan's libel, invasion of privacy and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage causes of action. Accordingly, the trial court's order denying the motion as to these causes of action is reversed. The trial court's order is affirmed as toBryan's cause of action for illegal recording against News Group Newspapers Limited and Mahmood, but reversed as to defendants News Corporation and News Corp UK & Ireland Limited because Bryan failed to establish a probability of prevailing against the parent corporations.
In August 1992, Bryan "became the unwilling subject of tabloid headlines after being photographed in Saint Tropez with a topless Duchess of York," Sarah Ferguson, "during a family holiday, after her separation from Prince Andrew." Bryan had his mouth on her foot in the photograph.
In 1995, Bryan was living in Los Angeles. He was no longer involved with Ferguson. He was pursuing a number of business ventures, including a hotel project in Las Vegas.
In September of 1995, Bryan received a telephone call from Ali Malik,1 who said "that he was a London-based solicitor representing a Saudi billionaire, Sheikh Mahmud Al-Karim, who wanted to make investments in the" United States. Bryan described his Las Vegas hotel project. Malik said it was the type of project in which the sheikh was interested and asked for additional information. After further correspondence, Bryanagreed to meet with the sheikh in Los Angeles to finalize the deal.
In early October, Bryan met with Malik and the sheikh, who was actually defendant Mahmood posing as the sheikh, and Steve Grayson, another reporter who was pretending to be a member of the shiekh's entourage. They met at the Beverly Hilton hotel and had dinner at Drai's restaurant. Afterwards, Bryan met with Grayson at the hotel. Grayson asked Bryan to procure cocaine and prostitutes for Malik and the sheikh. Bryan refused.
Bryan believed his conversations with Malik, Mahmood, and Grayson were private. He had no reason to believe he was being recorded.
On October 8, 1995, News of the World published an issue with the headline: Fergie's Ex in Vice and Drugs Shame. The story, by Mahmood, stated on the front page that "Bryan arranged two hookers to 'sweeten' a sordid business deal" and "also offered cocaine in a bid to snare rich investors." The story stated that Bryan "did not realise his 'investors' were News of the World reporters."
Inside the newspaper, the story included statements attributed to Bryan regarding his cocaine use, experience with prostitutes, sexual experiences with Ferguson, and "lust" for Princess Diana. It also included photographs of, and interviews with, two prostitutes who claimed Bryan procured their services for the sheikh.
After the 1995 story, News of the World and The Sun became involved in a phone hacking scandal that led to agovernment inquiry into tactics used by the British press (The Right Honourable Lord Justice Leveson, An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press (Nov. 2012)), numerous arrests and convictions, and testimony before Parliament by Rupert and James Murdoch.
The scandal also led to the demise of News of the World, which ceased publication on July 10, 2011. News Corporation "[a]pologized to victims of voicemail interception" and attempted to settle civil claims brought against it. Rupert Murdoch issued an apology "for the serious wrongdoing that occurred" and the "hurt suffered by the individuals affected."
As part of the government inquiry, journalists from News of the World appeared before an investigatory panel (Los Angeles Times, News from Around the World (Dec. 12, 2011).)
On October 4, 2014, Bryan met with Grayson during the taping of the BBC's Panorama program, The Fake Sheikh Exposed, which chronicled some of Mahmood's tactics. This was Bryan's first contact with Grayson since 1995. During the taping of the show, Grayson revealed to Bryan that he had secretlyrecorded their conversations during their meetings in Los Angeles in 1995.
Both Bryan and Grayson appeared on the program. Bryan denied the allegations contained in the 1995 News of the World article that he had offered to provide the sheikh with cocaine and prostitutes. Grayson corroborated Bryan's denials and confirmed that when he tried to get Bryan to supply them with prostitutes and cocaine, Bryan refused. Grayson explained that Mahmood arranged on his own for two prostitutes to come to Mahmood's hotel suite and record them saying "Johnny [Bryan]" sent them. Mahmood used the false statements to support his story about Bryan in the tabloid. During the Panorama program, the front page of the October 8, 1995 issue of News of the World was shown on the screen for roughly three seconds.
The following day, Bryan sent "News UK" a letter demanding that, in light of the revelations in the Panorama program, News UK publish a retraction admitting the 1995 News of the World story was false. Bryan received no response.2
On October 1, 2015, Bryan filed this lawsuit, alleging causes of action for (1) libel, (2) invasion of privacy, (3) illegalrecording in violation of sections 632 and 637.2, and (4) intentional interference with prospective economic advantage. Defendants filed answers denying the allegations of the complaint and asserting a number of affirmative defenses, including the expiration of the applicable statutes of limitations.
Defendants then filed anti-SLAPP motions claiming that Bryan could not show a probability of prevailing because all of the causes of action were barred by the applicable statutes of limitations and challenged Bryan's allegation that News Corporation and News Corp UK & Ireland Limited acted as the alter ego3 of News Group Newspapers Limited.
The trial court found the first two causes of action for libel and invasion of privacy were "subject to the anti-SLAPP statute because they are premised primarily on the publication of the [1995 News of the World story], which [is] conduct protected by the First Amendment." (Fn. omitted.) The court found the third and fourth causes of action for illegal recording and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage were not subject to the anti-SLAPP statute because they are premised on the illegal recording of Bryan's conversation and because the defendants' "conduct—attempting to 'entrap' [Bryan] into engaging in illegal conduct and surreptitiously recording[Bryan's] responses to private conversations—does not come within the ambit of the First Amendment." Nonetheless, the trial court proceeded to consider all four causes of action under the second prong of the anti-SLAPP analysis and found Bryan carried his burden of showing a probability of prevailing. Finding Bryan also demonstrated a probability of prevailing against News Corporation and News Corp UK & Ireland Limited on an alter-ego/principal-agent theory, the trial court denied the anti-SLAPP motion in its entirety.
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