Little v. Consol. Publ'g Co.
| Decision Date | 03 December 2010 |
| Docket Number | 2090705 |
| Parties | Benjamin L. Little v. Consolidated Publishing Company and Megan Nichols |
| Court | Alabama Court of Civil Appeals |
Appeal from Calhoun Circuit Court
Benjamin L. Little appeals from a summary judgment entered by the Calhoun Circuit Court ("the trial court") in favor of Consolidated Publishing Company ("CPC") and Megan Nichols. We affirm in part and reverse in part.
Little, a Christian minister and an African-American, serves as a councilman for the City of Anniston, a position in which he has served since he was first elected in 2000. In early 2007, Little, acting on the recommendation of Phillip White, then mayor of Uniontown, contacted Yolanda Jackson, a human-resource-management consultant, about possibly addressing what Little considered to be the substandard practices of the human-resources department of the City of Anniston. On February 10, 2007, Little drove to Uniontown, picked up Jackson, and then drove to Demopolis with her, where the two dined and conversed for one and a half to two hours, all at the expense of the City of Anniston. After dinner, Little drove Jackson back to Uniontown, dropped her at the city hall, and then drove back to Anniston. The next day, Jackson sent her resume to Little, indicating her willingness to assist in developing new human—resources policies and procedures for the City of Anniston
Little recommended Jackson to the other city-council members, but they were initially "cool about it." A year later, however, the city council renewed its interest in thematter and Little, after meeting again with Jackson in Uniontown, arranged for her and Mayor White to attend a citycouncil meeting in April 2008. At that meeting, in which Jackson informed the council of her qualifications and Mayor White related the success of Jackson's efforts in helping Uniontown with its human-resources problems, the city council voted 5-0 to hire Jackson to perform an audit of the humanresources practices of the City of Anniston at a cost of $2,500. Following the council meeting, Little took Jackson and Mayor White to dinner in Anniston.
Jackson thereafter performed an audit of the humanresources practices of the City of Anniston. Jackson did not meet personally with Little during the auditing process; however, Little did talk with Jackson on the telephone several times. After the audit was completed, Little also drove to Uniontown and talked with Jackson about the audit for about 20 minutes. The record does not indicate any other interaction between Little and Jackson.
In November 2008, John Spain was elected to the Anniston city council. At a February 18, 2009, city-council meeting, Spain questioned the usefulness of the audit conducted by Jackson and stated his intention to investigate the matter. Nichols, a reporter for The Anniston Star, which is a newspaper owned and published by CPC, interviewed Spain and Little after the meeting. Based on her notes from the meeting and her interviews, Nichols wrote a story that appeared on the front page of The Anniston Star on February 19, 2009, under the headline: "Spain wants Investigation into HR audit ordered by Little." In that story, Nichols related some facts and opinions of certain City of Anniston officials, including Spain, that indicated that the audit had been poorly performed and had yielded nothing productive. In addition, the story stated:
Nichols submitted an affidavit in support of the motion for a summary judgment in which she stated that, in her interview with Spain, "Spain made statements to which he was attributed in the article." Nichols stated that it had been her understanding from statements made by Spain during that interview that "there were rumors in the community that Council member Little may have been dating a consultant hired by the City." In her deposition, Nichols clarified that Spain had also indicated to her that there was a "buzz" that Little had based his decision to "push" for Jackson's hiring due to their rumored personal relationship. In both her affidavit and her deposition testimony, Nichols attested that she had quoted Spain and Little accurately in the story. Bob Davis, the editor of The Anniston Star, testified in his deposition that he had contributed to the story by noting that Little was not a married man, in order to give the story "greater context."
Nichols stated in her affidavit that she did not write the story out of ill will, spite, or malice toward anyone, but, she stated, she was simply reporting the words of Spainas told to her as part of her job as a reporter. Nichols further attested in her affidavit that she had no concerns or doubts about the accuracy of the information quoted in the story. In her deposition, however, Nichols clarified that she had not investigated whether, in fact, a rumor was circulating about Little and Jackson; she could verify only that Spain had asserted as much. As for checking the factual basis of the alleged rumor, Nichols testified that she had inquired of Little and had attempted to contact Jackson. Although Nichols and Davis both testified that they had no reason to doubt the veracity of Little's denial, and although Nichols had not been able to reach Jackson, Nichols decided to run the story anyway. Furthermore, despite the fact that Harry Brandt Ayers, the publisher of The Anniston Star, testified that he knew Spain did not like Little and that the newspaper had a policy of double-checking particularly divisive remarks, no editor or other person employed by the newspaper had attempted to ascertain the factual basis of Spain's statements.
On February 20, 2009, The Anniston Star ran an editorial authored by Davis, entitled: "Ben's greatest hits: A litany of crumbling plans." In that editorial, Davis stated:
Davis then recounted several other endeavors Little had undertaken while he was a councilman that Davis considered to have been unsuccessful.
On February 24, 2009, counsel for Little wrote a letter to Ayers, requesting that the newspaper retract certain statements contained in the story and the entire editorial, both of which Little considered to be false and malicious.1
Specifically, Little's counsel maintained that Little had not ordered the audit or hired Jackson but, rather, that the Anniston city council had voted 5-0 to retain Jackson. Little's counsel also asserted that the story had repeated false gossip provided by Spain, who was described in the letter as "a well known opponent of Mr. Little on the city council," to the effect that Little had "pushed" for Jackson's hiring because Little had a personal relationship with Jackson. Little's counsel further objected to the characterization of the audit in the editorial as a "sweetheart" deal that Little had "urged" the council to make.
On February 26, 2009, Little's counsel sent a proposed retraction to counsel for CPC. On February 27, 2009, in an article entitled "For the Records" that was printed on page two of that day's edition of The Anniston Star, the following appeared:
Later that day, Little's counsel wrote CPC's counsel, objecting because he had not reviewed or approved the foregoing article before it was published and demanding different wording to appear on the front page of the newspaper. No further correction appeared in the pages of The Anniston Star.
On March 24, 2009, another editorial appeared in The Anniston Star in which it was recounted that some individuals had taken copies of past editorials that were critical of Little and had "penned threats to Little's life in the margins." That editorial quoted Little as blaming the editorial board of The Anniston Star for provoking the death threats through its "vicious and incorrect" editorials. That editorial then stated:
...
To continue reading
Request your trial