Michigan United Conservation Clubs v. CBS News, a Div. of CBS, Inc., 80-1231

• Decision Date: 30 November 1981
• Docket Number: No. 80-1231,80-1231
• Citation: 665 F.2d 110
• Parties: 7 Media L. Rep. 2331 MICHIGAN UNITED CONSERVATION CLUBS, Thomas L. Washington, Carl Johnson, Fred Bear, Thomas Anderson, and Ben East, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CBS NEWS, A DIVISION OF CBS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit

Page 110

665 F.2d 110

7 Media L. Rep. 2331

MICHIGAN UNITED CONSERVATION CLUBS, Thomas L. Washington Carl Johnson, Fred Bear, Thomas Anderson, and Ben East, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. CBS NEWS, A DIVISION OF CBS, INC., Defendant-Appellee.

No. 80-1231.

United States Court of Appeals Sixth Circuit.

Argued Oct. 20, 1981.

Decided Nov. 30, 1981.

Neil A. McLean, Glassen, Rhead, McLean, & Campbell, Lansing, Mich., for plaintiffs-appellants.

George E. Brand, Jr., Butzel, Long, Gust, Klein, & Van Zile, Detroit, Mich., F. William Hutchinson, Varnum, Riddering, Wierengo & Christenson, Grand Rapids, Mich., for defendant-appellee.

Before MERRITT and MARTIN, Circuit Judges, and PECK, Senior Circuit Judge.

BOYCE F. MARTIN, Jr., Circuit Judge.

Michigan United Conservation Clubs, plaintiff below, appeals an order granting summary judgment for CBS News, defendant below. M.U.C.C. is a non-profit Michigan corporation which promotes natural resource conservation and environmental protection. Its membership consists primarily of game hunters. M.U.C.C. brought this action against CBS News, alleging that two documentary films, "The Guns of Autumn" and its sequel "Echoes of the Guns of Autumn", defamed M.U.C.C. and all Michigan hunters. These films examine sports game hunting with a critical eye. CBS broadcast them on national television on September 5 and 28, 1975, respectively.

In substance, M.U.C.C. alleged that CBS "tricked" M.U.C.C.'s executive director, Thomas L. Washington, into cooperating with the CBS film crews by promising that the documentary would treat hunting favorably, when in fact it treated hunting unfavorably. In particular, M.U.C.C. objected to CBS's secret collaboration with Cleveland Armory, and to its filming of a bear hunt at a garbage dump. M.U.C.C. claimed that CBS gave the public a negative false impression of American hunters by emphasizing the slaughter rather than the "spirit of the hunt."

Thomas L. Washington, an individual plaintiff, alleged that CBS used a soundtrack of his voice extolling the virtues of the hunt, as background commentary for a scene showing Colorado hunters loading dead deer onto a truck. Washington claimed that this juxtaposition showed him "in a light that was contrary to the thoughts (he) expressed." He allegedly suffered personal humiliation and discredit "as a result of the deceit used by CBS to induce him to participate in a film that discredited hunting." (emphasis added).

The District Court, 485 F.Supp. 893, granted summary judgment against all plaintiffs after viewing the films and concluding as a matter of law that they were not "of and concerning" plaintiffs. M.U.C.C. and the individual plaintiffs now appeal, contending that the question whether the films were "of and concerning" them, is a question of fact, precluding summary judgment.

We disagree. First, we discuss the claims of the individual hunters, who essentially claimed they were defamed as members of the large group of Michigan sports hunters which numbers more than one million. This is essentially a claim of group libel. Under Michigan law "it is not enough for a complainant to allege that he is a member of a group allegedly defamed." Chapman v. Romney, 6 Mich.App. 36, 40, 148 N.W.2d 230 (1967). In Chapman the court affirmed entry of summary judgment in favor of...