Mitchell v. Random House, Inc.

• Citation: 865 F.2d 664
• Decision Date: 15 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 88-4449,88-4449
• Parties: 16 Media L. Rep. 1207 Lucille Ware Magouirk MITCHELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RANDOM HOUSE, INC., Lucy de Barbin, and Dary Matera, Defendants-Appellees. Summary Calendar.
• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit)

Page 664

865 F.2d 664

16 Media L. Rep. 1207

Lucille Ware Magouirk MITCHELL, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. RANDOM HOUSE, INC., Lucy de Barbin, and Dary Matera Defendants-Appellees.

No. 88-4449

Summary Calendar.

United States Court of Appeals Fifth Circuit.

Feb. 15, 1989.

Mary F. Gibbons, Sam E. Scott, Heidelberg, Woodliff & Franks, Jackson, Miss., for plaintiff-appellant.

John C. Henegan, W. Wayne Drinkwater, Jr., and R. Andrew Taggart, Jackson, Miss., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi.

Before RUBIN, GARWOOD and DAVIS, Circuit Judges.

GARWOOD, Circuit Judge:

Plaintiff-appellant Lucille Ware Magouirk Mitchell (Mitchell), a Louisiana citizen, brought this diversity action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi against defendants-appellees Random House, Inc. (Random House), a New York corporation, Lucy de Barbin (de Barbin), a Texas citizen, and Dary Matera (Matera), a citizen of Florida, alleging libel, "false light" invasion of privacy and negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress, all based on statements in a book co-authored by de Barbin and Matera and published by Random House. Mitchell appeals the district court's dismissal of the complaint for failure to state a claim.

Context Facts and Proceedings Below

The book in question--Are You Lonesome Tonight?: The Untold Story of Elvis Presley's One True Love--and the Child He Never Knew (the book)--recounts the story of the alleged love affair between de Barbin and Elvis Presley. The chapters in the book are written in two parts. The parts written in the first person are by de Barbin. Those that refer to de Barbin in the third person are by Matera. Chapter one of the book dramatically describes de Barbin's unhappy childhood, replete with a father who dies from tuberculosis and a burned down home, when de Barbin was about three years old, a mother who is thereafter forced to work as a maid, and a manipulative and domineering maternal grandmother who "disliked [de Barbin] most of all." As reflected in chapter one, de Barbin's parents and her maternal grandmother were born in France, an uncle continued to live there, her mother "couldn't speak English," de Barbin spoke only French until she was about five or six, the family associated with French immigrants and relatives and followed many French customs, and her maternal grandmother "hated America and Americans."

Chapter one informs us that de Barbin's childhood ended abruptly at age eleven when she was coerced by her grandmother into marrying a forty-five-year-old man, Mr. Richard "Dixie" W.D. Ware (Ware). Apparently, de Barbin's grandmother and another woman--"Aunt" Victoria--arranged the marriage with Ware, in exchange for "payment," after Ware heard de Barbin sing at a party. In the book, de Barbin briefly describes the singing party as follows:

"When I got home, there was a party going on. The house was full of strangers, mostly men. A well-dressed woman introduced herself and told me to call her Aunt Victoria. After dinner I was asked to sing. That was routine at our parties and I loved performing. I had recently learned the song 'Mother Machree' and dedicated it to my mother. I could see the tears in her eyes as I sang."

Several weeks thereafter, de Barbin was taken from Louisiana to Mississippi by her grandmother and "Aunt" Victoria. ¹ As noted in the below-quoted passage, upon arrival in Mississippi, de Barbin was "prepared" for the wedding by Ware's sister and another woman. Mitchell alleges that she was Ware's sole living sister at the time of the marriage. The book's only references to her are contained in the following few passages in chapter one:

"I was taken to a wide, gray house with tall ceilings and dusty rugs. The man's sister came to stay with me and prepare me for the wedding. She looked like the house, drab and gray. She kept asking, 'What's wrong with you?' because I was pale and frightened. I was so afraid that I kept throwing up in the bathroom.

"A second woman, equally unpleasant, came and handed me a dismal skirt, blouse, and jacket to wear as my wedding gown. I was told that the man didn't want anything special so as not to attract attention. I knew it was because of my age. The women left me alone to dress.

"I stared in the mirror, trying to understand why all this was happening. I kept telling myself that God has a reason for everything. I thought of running away, but where could I go? I was in a strange city, and even if I did escape they would force my mother to go back to work. I tried to stay strong. I brushed away the tears so no one would see them.

"I was taken outside and put in a car between the man and his sister. No one said anything. I remember it was raining and dreary. I was brought before a man dressed in black, a justice of the peace. He mumbled some words without smiling and then ordered me to say 'I do.' I did as I was told. With a strange man behind me, and two strangers standing beside me, I was married. We were driven back to the house. The women left. I was alone with the man." (Emphasis added). ²

The remainder of chapter one as authored by de Barbin describes Ware's abuse of de Barbin on their wedding night.

In the subsequent portion of chapter one written by Matera, the following commentary is made on these events:

"To this day, Lucy doesn't realize, or has refused to accept, the fact that she was sold like a slave to the highest bidder. The party at her house was actually a discreet auction with Lucy as the prized property. 'Aunt' Victoria was probably the wife of the local marriage broker, or possibly a marriage broker herself. Lucy's singing performance was geared toward titillating the buyers and opening their wallets. (Emphasis added).

"The winner of this auction was Richard 'Dixie' W.D. Ware [a footnote here explains this is not the Richard Ware of Monroe], an underachiever whose stake came from a family aviation business and some minor real estate transactions. The house in Monroe that Ware offered Lucy's family may have been only part of the price he paid for a beautiful eleven-year-old 'thoroughbred.'

"To some, this account may read as though it took place in another century. Actually, such marriages were not uncommon in 1947. The French have a tradition of arranged marriages and refer to them as mariages de convenance.

"....

"It is also significant that Lucy was brought to Mississippi to be married. In 1947, the minimum legal age a girl could marry with parental consent in Louisiana was sixteen. In Mississippi, the minimum age was twelve."

A dramatic summary of de Barbin's plight appears on the book's jacket, which states that "Elvis inspired [de Barbin] to shake off the chains of despair and hopelessness and free herself from a brutal husband foisted upon her at age eleven by an old-world immigrant family."

Mitchell brought this suit alleging that the passages concerning her falsely portrayed her as a participant in a coerced marriage of an underage girl and that such a false portrayal damaged her reputation. In addition to her defamation claim, Mitchell asserted claims of "false light" invasion of privacy and intentional and negligent infliction of emotional distress. The district court dismissed Mitchell's suit for failure to state a claim after concluding as a matter of Mississippi law that, inter alia, the relevant passages were not susceptible to the defamatory meaning ascribed to them by Mitchell.

Discussion

The parties and the district court, in its thorough and well considered memorandum opinion, have treated this case as governed by Mississippi substantive law. In this connection, we accord appropriate deference to the district court's interpretation of the law of the state in which it sits. See, e.g., Armstrong v. Farm Equipment Co., 742 F.2d 883, 886 (5th Cir.1984); Acree v. Shell Oil Company, 721 F.2d 524 (5th Cir.1983); Smith v. Mobil Corp., 719 F.2d 1313, 1317 (5th Cir.1983).

I. Defamation

In order to prevail on her defamation claim under Mississippi law, Mitchell must establish:

"(1) a false and defamatory statement concerning another;

"(2) an unprivileged publication to a third party;

"(3) fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher;

"and

"(4) either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm or the existence of special harm caused by the publication." Fulton v. Mississippi Publishers Corp., 498 So.2d 1215, 1216 (Miss.1986) (quoting Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 558 (1977)).

A. Falsity

The threshold question for a court to consider is whether the statements made are false, as truth is a complete defense to libel. Blake v. Gannett Co., 529 So.2d 595, 602 (Miss.1988). The complaint expressly admits that "Plaintiff witnessed the marriage of defendant Lucy De Barbin to her brother Richard 'Dixie' W.D. Ware, such marriage being with the apparent full consent of both parties," but alleges that the book is false in that "Plaintiff did not ever participate in or co-operate with any 'slave auction' purchase, enticement, harboring, transportation or marriage of an unwilling eleven year old child to plaintiff's brother, Richard 'Dixie' W.D. Ware." ³

On appeal the parties clearly dispute de Barbin's age at the time of the marriage. ⁴ Undoubtedly, much of the reader's moral outrage at de Barbin's marriage stems from the fact that de Barbin was purportedly only eleven at the time of the marriage. ⁵ The record contains nothing else reflecting de Barbin's actual age at the marriage. While such a fact is normally quite easily proved, we do not find that information critical to our decision. Even assuming an older de Barbin than the one portrayed, we feel compelled by Mississippi law to affirm the district court's judgment that such a false depiction does not defame Mitchell.

B. Defamatory

The trial court's function is to determine whether...