Ferguson v. Park Newspapers of Georgia Inc.
| Decision Date | 06 April 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 56758,56758 |
| Citation | 148 Ga.App. 848,253 S.E.2d 231 |
| Parties | , 5 Media L. Rep. 1191 FERGUSON v. PARK NEWSPAPERS OF GEORGIA INC. et al. |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Joel A. Willis, Jr., Warner Robins, for appellant.
Cowart, Varner & Harrington, Pamela M. Richards, Roy N. Cowart, Warner Robins, for appellees.
This is a newspaper libel suit. Plaintiff, a Sunday newspaper editor, alleged that he was libeled by an article that defendants wrote and published on the newspaper opinion page entitled "An Apology is in Order." This article was attached to plaintiff's complaint. In this column labeled "Turkey Tracks," defendant managing editor wrote, ". . . We who put your newspaper together can be turkeys, too . . ." Defendant-writer stated that an editor in Sunday's paper (plaintiff), faced with the problem of singularly uncooperative police officers, found the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution being violated and placed that opinion in the front page story. Defendant commented, "That was a piece of gratuitous editorializing for which I must apologize." The pertinent portion of the column concluded with an assurance that if defendants think the First Amendment is being abused, they will state so on the opinion page of the newspaper. Defendants answered, and moved for judgment on the pleadings and to dismiss for failure to state a claim on which relief can be granted. Solely based on the pleadings and attached publication, the trial court granted defendants' motion for summary judgment. Plaintiff appeals. Held
In a defamation action, where defendant claims the objected to publication is, as a matter of law, not defamatory, the trial judge, reading and construing the publication as a whole, may find that it is not defamatory, that it is defamatory, or that it is ambiguous and the question is one for a jury. See Constitution Pub. Co. v. Andrews, 50 Ga.App. 116, 177 S.E. 258. In this case, the trial court had to find that the publication was not defamatory as a matter of law, since it granted summary judgment to defendants. This was error as this publication is susceptible to a defamatory interpretation when read as the ordinary person would read it. We cannot say as a matter of law that the phrase "We who put your newspaper together can be turkeys, too" is not defamatory by innuendo as plaintiff, as Sunday editor, apparently...
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Southern Bell Tel. and Tel. Co. v. Coastal Transmission Service, Inc., 65684
...it is not defamatory, that it is defamatory, or that it is ambiguous and the question is one for a jury." Ferguson v. Park Newspapers etc., 148 Ga.App. 848, 849, 253 S.E.2d 231 (1979). In the instant case the trial court submitted it to the jury for resolution. We find no fault with that de......
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Horsley v. Feldt
...See Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Miller, 398 F.2d 218, 222-23 (5th Cir.1968) (applying Georgia law); Ferguson v. Park Newspapers of Ga., Inc., 148 Ga.App. 848, 253 S.E.2d 231, 231-32 (1979). The fact that Feldt's alleged comments on the CNN broadcast did not explicitly name Horsley does not st......
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Morton v. Stewart
...it is not defamatory, that it is defamatory, or that it is ambiguous and the question is one for a jury." Ferguson v. Park Newspapers of Ga., 148 Ga.App. 848, 849, 253 S.E.2d at 231; Accord, Constitution Publishing Co. v. Andrews, 50 Ga.App. 116, 117, 177 S.E. 258; Southland Pub. Co. v. Sew......
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Park Newspapers of Georgia, Inc., v. Ferguson., 34797
...Submitted May 25, 1979. Decided Oct. 16, 1979. Rehearing Denied Oct. 30, 1979. Certiorari to the Court of Appeals of Georgia--148Ga.App. 848, 253 S.E.2d 231 (1979). Cowart, Varner & Harrington, Roy N. Cowart, Pamela M. Richards, Warner Robins, for Joel A. Willis, Jr., Warner Robins, for app......