Johnson v. Overnite Transp. Co., 93-1470
| Decision Date | 11 March 1994 |
| Docket Number | No. 93-1470,93-1470 |
| Citation | 19 F.3d 392 |
| Parties | 128 Lab.Cas. P 57,688, 9 Indiv.Empl.Rts.Cas. (BNA) 466 Daniel JOHNSON, Appellant, v. OVERNITE TRANSPORTATION COMPANY, a Virginia corporation, Appellee. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Brian N. Toder, St. Paul, MN, argued (Brian N. Toder and Douglas W. Thomson on the brief), for appellant.
Robert L. DeMay, Minneapolis, MN, argued, for appellee.
Before RICHARD S. ARNOLD, Chief Judge, BEAM, Circuit Judge, and JACKSON *, District Judge.
Daniel Johnson appeals the dismissal of his defamation action. The district court found that the action was barred by the statute of limitations. We affirm.
Johnson was employed as a truck driver by Overnite Transportation Co. (Overnite). In 1986, he was terminated for misconduct. Since that time, he has been required to state the reason for his dismissal on more than thirty job applications.
He filed this diversity action in 1992, claiming defamation through compelled self-publication. 1 Overnite moved for summary judgment, contending that the two-year defamation statute of limitations, Minn.Stat. Sec. 541.07, bars Johnson's defamation claim. Overnite argued that the limitations period commenced, at the latest, when Johnson first uttered the defamatory statements to a prospective employer in late 1986. Johnson contended, on the other hand, that the limitations period began to run anew every time he was compelled to publish the defamatory statement.
The district court found the action was barred. In making its finding, the district court acknowledged that Minnesota courts have not specifically addressed the issue of whether the "multiple-publication" rule or the "single-publication" rule applies in a case of compelled self-publication. See Church of Scientology v. Minnesota State Medical Ass'n Found., 264 N.W.2d 152, 155 (Minn.1978) (). The district court found compelled self-publication comparable to the mass-produced libel presented in Church of Scientology since a plaintiff's ability to indefinitely prolong his cause of action undermines the policy of repose embodied in the statute of limitation.
We review a grant of summary judgment de novo. United States ex rel. Glass v. Medtronic, Inc., 957 F.2d 605, 607 (8th Cir.1992). The question before the district court, and this court on appeal, is whether the record, when viewed in light most favorable to the nonmoving party, shows that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Id. We similarly review a district court's determination of state law de novo. Salve Regina College v. Russell, 499 U.S. 225, 231, 111 S.Ct. 1217, 1221, 113 L.Ed.2d 190 (1991).
Applying those standards, we agree that Minnesota courts, if presented with the issue, would find the situation analogous to the mass-publication scenario presented in Church of Scientology. We see no...
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Defamation in the workplace
...gives rise to a separate cause of action has been found not to apply to compelled self-publication. See Johnson v. Overnite Transp. Co. , 19 F.3d 392, 392-93 (8th Cir. 1994) (statute on a claim for defamation through self-publication does not run anew every time the employee repeats the def......