Chatham v. Gulf Pub. Co., Inc., 56252

• Decision Date: 04 February 1987
• Docket Number: No. 56252,56252
• Parties: 13 Media L. Rep. 2099 Thomas Edgar CHATHAM d/b/a Edgar's Lounge v. GULF PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 647

502 So.2d 647

13 Media L. Rep. 2099

Thomas Edgar CHATHAM d/b/a Edgar's Lounge v. GULF PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.

No. 56252.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

Feb. 4, 1987.

Thomas A. Pritchard, Biloxi, for appellant.

W. Joel Blass, Henry F. Laird, Jr., Mize, Thompson & Blass, Gulfport, for appellee.

Before HAWKINS, P.J., and ROBERTSON and SULLIVAN, JJ.

SULLIVAN, Justice, for the Court:

I.

This libel action arises from a complaint filed by Thomas Edgar Chatham d/b/a Edgar's Lounge, alleging that Gulf Publishing Company, Inc., through a series of articles appearing in two of its newspapers, falsely reported that police answered a disturbance call at his lounge on Howard Avenue in Biloxi, Mississippi.

The circuit court held, inter alia, that as a matter of law Chatham had not been libeled, and granted unto Gulf Publishing Company a summary judgment. We affirm.

II.

The appellee, Gulf Publishing Company, publishes two newspapers on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a morning paper known as The Sun and an evening paper known as The Daily Herald. On the weekends the two newspapers are combined and published as The Saturday Paper and The Sunday Paper, respectively. On March 15, 1982, The Sunday Paper published a news story concerning Hershel H. Jernigan of Biloxi, Mississippi, who had been seriously injured in a fight the previous night. The story reported that the fight occurred at a Biloxi lounge and that Jernigan was found in critical condition by police at Edgar's Lounge, an establishment owned and operated by the appellant, Thomas Edgar Chatham. Jernigan died on March 15, 1982, and the March 16th edition of The Sun published a story of his death and the fact that his assailants had been charged with murder. The Sun article correctly stated that the alleged attack on Jernigan occurred "on a Biloxi Street about midnight Friday." On the same day, The Daily Herald published a similar story which reported that authorities found Mr. Jernigan in critical condition upon their arrival at the scene, the scene being Edgar's Lounge.

Chatham sued Gulf Publishing Company in a libel action seeking damages in the sum of $100,000.00, such damages being the result of the alleged libelous articles appearing in editions of the defendant newspaper. In his complaint Chatham alleged that the newspaper articles in question falsely imputed that a fight occurred at or within his place of business and were libelous in that they inferred that his business establishment was an unsafe environment for its patrons. Chatham further alleged that by reason of the publication of the allegedly false and defamatory statements, his business had been injured in its reputation and lost the good will and trade of many persons with whom he would have otherwise had a profitable business. The articles of which Chatham complains are the following:

Biloxi man's condition critical following fight

A Biloxi man was listed in critical condition Saturday night at Memorial Hospital at Gulfport where he was being treated for injuries apparently sustained during a fight at a Biloxi lounge.

A spokesman for the Biloxi Police Department said officers found Hershel Jernigan, 57, of Hood Lane, in critical condition when they arrived at Edgar's Lounge on Howard Avenue about 3 a.m. Saturday. There apparently had been a fight, and Brent Strong and Paula Hudson, both 19 and both of Biloxi, were charged with aggravated assault in the incident; however, police said Jernigan appeared to have been a bystander.

Strong and Hudson are being held under $10,000 bond each.

Biloxian charged in death

Nineteen-year-old Brent Strong of Biloxi has been charged with murder in the death of Hershel Jernigan, 57, also of Biloxi.

Jernigan, 240 Hood Lane, died Sunday after he had undergone emergency surgery for head injuries Saturday, following an apparent fight where police said he was probably only a bystander.

A Biloxi Police Department spokesman said officers found Jernigan in critical condition when they arrived at Edgar's Lounge on Howard Avenue about 3 a.m. Saturday.

The spokesman said there had apparently been a fight, and both Strong and Paula Hudson, 19, Biloxi, had first been charged with aggravated assault following the incident. Strong's charge was changed to murder after Jernigan died.

Gulf Publishing Company answered the complaint denying that the articles attached to the complaint were libelous and interposed several defenses, including the defense of a good faith belief that the company published stories which were true, as legitimate news stories, and in the discharge of a duty of the press to publish news concerning matters of public interest and concern. Gulf admitted that its newspapers had indeed published the three articles in question.

It is undisputed that both Strong and Jernigan were in Edgar's Lounge on the night that the fight occurred. Rhonda Flowers, one of Chatham's employees, testified that both Strong and Hershel Jernigan had been at Edgar's Lounge prior to the fight; Strong was asked to leave Edgar's Lounge because he was disorderly and using obscene language; Flowers heard the commotion from where she was positioned by an open door; Flowers actually telephoned the Biloxi Police Department to report that a fight was occurring just down the street from Edgar's Lounge; the fight which Flowers reported to the Biloxi Police Department occurred approximately one-half to two-thirds block due east of Edgar's Lounge on Howard Avenue, Biloxi; and the Biloxi Police Department did actually go to Edgar's Lounge during its investigation of the fight. It is further undisputed however, that the fight occurred and the fatal blow was struck some 108 paces or two-thirds a block away from the lounge owned by Chatham. Obviously, this is contrary to what was reported in The Sunday Paper or in the evening edition of The Daily Herald. Chatham now contends that the accuracy and defamatory nature of these articles were issues of fact to be decided by a jury, not a trial court.

Gulf Publishing Company submits that the published articles do not attack the character or reputation of Chatham or in any other way defame him and, therefore are not libelous.

After counsel presented argument in support of their respective positions, the circuit court granted summary judgment, finding that there was no genuine issue as to any material fact. Feeling aggrieved, Thomas Edgar Chatham has appealed to this Court for relief, and has set forth three separate propositions under what is essentially one assignment of error, that being:

III.

THE TRIAL COURT ERRED AS A MATTER OF LAW IN ORDERING SUMMARY

JUDGMENT IN FAVOR OF GULF PUBLISHING COMPANY.

Essentially, the only question before us is whether the published articles attack the character or reputation of Chatham or in any way defame him and, therefore, are libelous? A claim of defamation requires that Chatham establish:

(1) a false and defamatory statement concerning another;

(2) an unprivileged publication to a third party;

(3) fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; and

(4) either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm or the existence of special harm caused by the publication.

Restatement (Second) of Torts, Sec. 558 (1977).

With the above in mind, the question before this Court is whether the statements complained of were...