Devlin v. National Broadcasting Co.

• Decision Date: 02 May 1966
• Docket Number: No. A--102,A--102
• Citation: 219 A.2d 523,47 N.J. 126
• Parties: Edward A. DEVLIN and Oceanside Hospital, Inc., Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. NALTIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, Inc., a corporation of Delaware, Defendant-Appellant, Raymond Massey, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Richard Chamberlain, Defendants.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

Page 126

47 N.J. 126

219 A.2d 523

Edward A. DEVLIN and Oceanside Hospital, Inc., Plaintiffs-Respondents, v. NALTIONAL BROADCASTING COMPANY, Inc., a corporation of Delaware, Defendant-Appellant Raymond Massey, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and Richard Chamberlain, Defendants.

No. A--102.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Argued Feb. 23, 1966.

Decided May 2, 1966.

Richard H. Thiele, Jr., Somerville, for appellant (Wharton, Stewart & Davis, Somerville, attorneys).

Harry Green, Toms River, for respondents.

PER CURIAM.

On March 31, 1965 Dr. Edward A. Devlin, a resident of Oceanside, California, and Oceanside Hospital, Inc., a California corporation operating a hospital in Oceanside, California, filed a complaint against the National Broadcasting Company in the Superior Court of California. In their complaint the plaintiffs alleged that Dr. Devlin is a physician and surgeon licensed by the State of California, as well as an attorney and counselor at law, licensed by the same State, and that the Oceanside Hospital is a licensed general medical and surgical hospital operating in Oceanside, California. They alleged further that a National Broadcasting Company's nation-wide television broadcast on April 9, 1964 had maliciously defamed them and had caused the hospital to lose business, good will and professional standing and Dr. Devlin to suffer emotionally and physically and to lose respect, prestige and business and professional relationships throughout the United States. Special, general and exemplary damages in the aggregate sum of $5,000,000 were sought in favor of Dr. Devlin and the hospital.

The broadcast described in the complaint was an episode in the National Broadcasting Company's weekly television series known as 'Dr. Kildare.' It was entitled 'An Ungodly Act' and the guest star was Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., portraying a character who was named Dr. Robert Devlin and who was a physician, lawyer and the operator of a small private hospital. Dr. Kildare, portrayed by Richard Chamberlain, brought a poor girl to the hospital for immediate emergency treatment, but she was not accepted and was referred to a county charity hospital. The patient died as a result of the delay. Dr. Kildare described the attitude and policies of Dr. Devlin and his hospital as 'downright criminal' and suggested neglect and malpractice. A defamation proceeding against Dr. Kildare was instituted and Dr. Devlin appeared as attorney; during the trial, Dr. Gillespie, portrayed by Raymond Massey, testified that the denial of care to the emergency patient was 'an ungodly act', thereby furnishing the title of the episode.

After the plaintiffs instituted their action in California, they filed additional defamation complaints in the States of Washington, Massachusetts and New Jersey. The New Jersey complaint was filed on April 6, 1965 in the Law Division of the Superior Court. It named the National Broadcasting Company and others as defendants and set forth substantially the same matters alleged in the California complaint. The plaintiffs apparently have no connection with New Jersey but they assert that the telecast, insofar as it reached New Jersey viewers, gave rise to separate New Jersey causes of action which should be entertained by the New Jersey courts. According to a stipulation tendered by the National Broadcasting Company, the show ('An Ungodly Act') was produced on film prior to April 9, 1964 and was televised from the film over stations owned by it or affiliated with it by contract; on April 9, 1964 there were two transmissions from two prints, one emanating from its facilities in New York City at 8:30 P.M., Eastern Standard time, and the other emanating from its facilities in Burbank, California at 8:30 P.M., Pacific Standard time.

On June 2, 1965 the National Broadcasting Company moved to dismiss the New Jersey complaint on the ground that California was the more convenient forum. See Starr v. Berry, 25 N.J. 573, 138 A.2d 44 (1958); Gore v. United States Steel Corp., 15 N.J. 301, 104 A.2d 670, certiorari denied 348 U.S. 861, 75 S.Ct. 84, 99 L.Ed. 678 (1954); Vargas v. A. H. Bull Steamship Co., 44 N.J.Super. 536, 131 A.2d 39 (Law Div.), affirmed 25 N.J. 293, 135 A.2d 857 (1957), certiorari denied 355 U.S. 958, 78 S.Ct. 545, 2 L.Ed.2d 534 (1958). It pointed out that California had adopted the Uniform Single Publication Act (9C U.L.A. 171; Cal.Civ.Code, §§ 3425.1--3425.5) which provides that no person shall have more than one cause of action for libel founded on any one broadcast over radio or television; that recovery in any action 'shall include all damages for any such tort suffered by the plaintiff in all jurisdictions'; and that a judgment in any jurisdiction 'shall bar any other action for damages by the same plaintiff against the same defendant founded upon the same publication or exhibition or utterance.' See Warner, 'Multistate Publication in Radio and Television,' 23 Law &...