Joseph v. Scranton Times L.P.

• Citation: 129 A.3d 404
• Decision Date: 20 November 2015
• Docket Number: No. 135 MAP 2014,135 MAP 2014
• Parties: Thomas A. JOSEPH, Thomas J. Joseph, Acumark, Inc., Airport Limousine and Taxi Service, Inc., Appellees v. The SCRANTON TIMES L.P., The Times Partner, James Conmy and Edward Lewis, Appellants.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Pennsylvania

129 A.3d 404

Thomas A. JOSEPH, Thomas J. Joseph, Acumark, Inc., Airport Limousine and Taxi Service, Inc., Appellees

v.The SCRANTON TIMES L.P., The Times Partner, James Conmy and Edward Lewis, Appellants.

No. 135 MAP 2014

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued May 6, 2015.

Decided Nov. 20, 2015.

Gayle Chatilo Sproul, Esq., Levine Sullivan Koch & Schulz, L.L.P., Philadelphia, for Pennsylvania Freedom of Information Coalition, Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, PA NewsMedia Assoc. & PA Freedom of Information Coalition, Amici Curiae.

Kevin Charles Abbott, Esq., Kim M. Watterson, Esq., Reed Smith LLP, Pittsburgh, John Timothy Hinton, Jr., Esq., Haggerty, McDonnell & Hinton, LLP, for The Scranton Times, L.P., The Times Partner, James Conmy and Edward Lewis.

George Croner, Esq., Kohn, Swift & Graf, P.C., Philadelphia, Timothy Paul Polishan, Esq., Old Forge, Kelley Polishan Walsh & Solfanelli, LLC, for Thomas A. Joseph, Thomas J. Joseph, Acumark, Inc., Airport Limousine and Taxi Service Inc.

SAYLOR, C.J., EAKIN, BAER, TODD, STEVENS, JJ.

OPINION

Justice STEVENS.

This discretionary appeal concerns a defamation case wherein The Scranton Times L.P., The Times Partner, James Conmy, and Edward Lewis (collectively "the Media Defendants")¹ appeal from an order of the Superior Court, which affirmed in part and reversed in part the decision of the Honorable Joseph Van Jura of the Court of Common Pleas of Luzerne County and granted Thomas A. Joseph, Thomas J. Joseph, Acumark, Inc., and Airport Limousine and Taxi Service, Inc. (collectively "Appellees") a new trial. For the reasons discussed in this opinion, we conclude the Superior Court erred in granting Appellees a new trial, and therefore, we reverse.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

This matter arises out of a series of articles written by James Conmy ("Conmy") and Edward Lewis ("Lewis") which appeared from June 1, 2001, to October 10, 2001, in the Citizens' Voice, a newspaper in the Wilkes–Barre/Scranton area owned by The Scranton Times L.P.² The articles reported about the existence of a federal criminal investigation into the alleged ties of William D'Elia ("D'Elia"), the reputed head of the Bufalino crime family of northeastern Pennsylvania, and Thomas A. Joseph, Sr. ("Joseph, Sr.") to organized crime activities. The articles included information related to, inter alia, the May 31, 2001, execution of search warrants by a large contingent of federal agents and state troopers at the Wilkes–Barre residence of Joseph, Sr., the office of Joseph, Sr.'s business, Acumark, Inc. ("Acumark"), the residence of Samuel Marranca ("Marranca"), the residence of Jeanne Stanton, and the residence of D'Elia. Specifically, the trial court summarized the challenged articles as follows:

While the Citizens' Voice published ten articles from June 1 to October 10, 2001, [Appellees] agree that the first two articles were not defamatory. The remaining eight articles at issue are summarized below.

The article of June 5, 2001, written by ... Comny [sic ] and Lewis, indicates that, according to "a source[,]"[ ] the reason for the search warrants of May 31 was a money-laundering [sic ] scheme involving "three main players" whose residences were searched, ... Acumark and "a limousine/taxi service in Pittston Township[.]"[ ] The article indicates that money was also laundered through a "now-defunct weekly newspaper called The Metro [.]"[ ] The article references D'Elia, La Cosa Nostra Crime Family[,] and reputed mobsters Russell Bufalino and Ralph Natale. The article contains the photograph of only one person: Joseph, Sr. The article contains confirmation from Joseph, Sr.'s civil attorney that records were removed from Acumark's Pittston office, followed by an assertion based on an unnamed source, that records of The Metro were seized from 1303 Wyoming Avenue.

There were no further articles until two months later.

On August 5, 2001, the Citizens' Voice published an article written by ... Conmy and Lewis. The article asserts, without indicating a source, that arrests at a former Avoca bar (Lavelle's Pub) three years before are connected to the money laundering investigation. In the next paragraph, the article states that a limousine and taxi service based at both the Wilkes–Barre/Scranton and Lehigh Valley [I]nternational [A]irports is under federal focus for transporting money, drugs, prostitutes[,] and guns to and from Atlantic City, Philadelphia, and New York. It is followed by another paragraph describing how Lavelle's Pub was used for the purposes of the use and distribution of cocaine. After several paragraphs about Lavelle's Pub, the article describes how prostitutes from an escort service operated by Al Carpinet, Jr., were used to entertain clients, followed by assertions, without attribution to a source, that a federal grand jury is investigating information that as much as $3 million was laundered through The Metro and ending with a paragraph about the above-described May 31 searches. The gist of the article is that the investigations of Lavelle's Pub and Al Carpinet, Jr., and the purported investigations of an airport taxi and limousine service that is transporting money, drugs, prostitutes, and guns and of The Metro are related to the searches of May 31, 2001. Nowhere in the article is it indicated that the assertions are only allegations, and nowhere is/are the source(s) of the assertions indicated.

On August 5, 2001, ... Lewis authored a separate article headlined "Firearms dealer denies involvement in alleged money laundering scheme" relating to an alleged firearms dealer, Gus Salazar [ ("Salazar") ], and indicating that both Salazar and Joseph, Sr., collect guns and use the same attorney. The article concludes by stating that the money laundering investigation is related to the investigation of Salazar. The parties agreed that neither side would call Salazar as a witness at trial, and stipulated that his testimony at the prior trial ... would be excluded from consideration in this trial. This was done.

On August 6, 2001, the Citizens' Voice published an article written by ... Conmy and Lewis on page 3 entitled "Probe investigating pub clientele" which was continued on page 37 under the heading "Probe: Customers under scrutiny [.]"[ ] The article indicates that, according to "an investigative source [,]"[ ] a frequent visitor at Lavelle's Pub "is a relative to one of three persons who received a target letter" from a Harrisburg federal grand jury investigating money laundering and indicates that the [sic ] "the investigation expanded to include prostitution, gun running[,] and further drug trafficking [.]"[ ] At the continuation of the article on page 37, after repeating earlier assertions that The Metro, "formerly owned by Joseph[,] (Sr.)" was used to launder $3 million, the article asserts that a taxi and limousine service owned by Joseph, Sr., and [Thomas J. Joseph, Jr. ("Joseph, Jr.") ], "is being looked at as a means to transport money, drugs, prostitutes[,] and guns to and from Atlantic City, Philadelphia[,] and New York City, several reliable sources said[.]"[ ] The article indicates: "A source said that although the transportation service at the Wilkes–Barre/Scranton International Airport promotes limousines, no such vehicles exist. The source continued to explain that the money, drugs[,] and guns are kept in attach[é] cases in the trunks of the vehicles when they transport the goods to the larger cities[.]"[ ]

The next day, August 8, 2001, the Citizens' Voice published an article written by ... Lewis indicating that Bob Butts [ ("Butts") ], who published The Metro with Joseph, Sr., "didn't see Joseph do anything wrong" and indicating again that, during the searches of May 31, 2001, records of The Metro were found in an office purportedly leased by ... Marranca and that one of the other individuals whose home was searched, D'Elia, "is a reputed mob boss[.]"[ ] The article indicates that Joseph, Sr., Marranca, and D'Elia "are at the center" of a federal investigation into money laundering that "expanded in recent weeks when federal investigators learned about drug-trafficking, prostitution, and gun running to and from Atlantic City and other larger cities[.]"[ ] Otherwise, the article purports to be about Butts' disclaimers that The Metro was profitable.

Four days later, on August 12, 2001, the Citizens' Voice published an article by Lewis entitled "Report: Judge Barrasse linked to IRS investigation ... Officials say he is not connected to former Lavelle's Pub Avoca[.]"[ ] Citing "several reliable sources[,]"[ ] the article repeats the substance of the assertions that a cocaine ring was operating out of Lavelle's Pub and indicates that "Lavelle's Pub was not involved in the laundering of money" but is connected to the money laundering investigation and to an investigation of Al Carpinet, Jr., because of the pub's clientele. The article indicates that one of at least three persons who sold cocaine at the pub "is related to two of the three persons who received target letters[.]"[ ] The article concludes by describing the May 31 searches of Marranca's, D'Elia's [,] and Joseph, Sr.'s residences and of Acumark and concludes by asserting that "a source close to the investigation" said that close to $3 million was laundered through The Metro.

The next article by Lewis was published by the Citizens' Voice on August 20, 2001. The article states, "a source close to the probe said" that the money laundering investigation "has expanded to include possible abuse of power and political corruption for personal gain ... It also includes prostitution involving alleged pimp Al Carpinet, Jr. and drug trafficking similar to the 1986 federal prosecution of Frederick Luytjes[,]"[ ] indicating that the federal grand jury investigation of money laundering through The Metro and Acumark is being headed by the same prosecutor ... who prosecuted Luytjes. The laundered money, according to a source, came from overfill at

...