Prairieland Broadcasters of Georgia, Inc. v. Thompson
| Decision Date | 08 May 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 50112,50112,2 |
| Citation | 135 Ga.App. 73,217 S.E.2d 296 |
| Parties | PRAIRIELAND BROADCASTERS OF GEORGIA, INC., et al. v. Ronnie THOMPSON |
| Court | Georgia Court of Appeals |
Albert P. Reichert, Sr., Albert P. Reichert, Jr., Macon, for appellants.
H. T. O'Neal, Jr., Manley F. Brown, Macon, for appellee.
The Mayor of Macon brought an action for slander against Prairieland Broadcasters of Georgia, a corporation which operates a radio station known as WBML, and also against its announcer, one Jim Lee. Also named as a defendant in the complaint was 'One Unknown Hotline Woman.'
The defendants filed an answer and counterclaim, and further filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings. The plaintiff filed a motion to strike the counterclaim and a motion for judgment on the pleadings. Both these motions were converted into motions for summary judgment which after consideration were denied by the trial judge. The trial judge did, however, sustain the plaintiff's motion to strike the counterclaim of the defendants. Upon a certificate of immediate review being entered, the case was taken here on appeal by the defendant Prairieland. Held:
1. The principal issue involved in this case concerns the question of actual malice. Based on the New York Times case, it is now established law that a public official in order to recover for defamatory statements made against him must establish that the statements were actuated by what the court described as actual malice. Actual malice is defined as: '(W)ith knowledge that (a defamatory statement) was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.' New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 280, 84 S.Ct. 710, 726, 11 L.Ed.2d 686, 95 A.L.R.2d 1412. Cantrell v. Forest City Pub. Co., 419 U.S. 245, 95 S.Ct. 465, 42 L.Ed.2d 419.
In this case the defendants urged that there was no showing of malice made, hence they were entitled to the sustaining of their motion for summary judgment. While on the trial of the case the burden would unquestionably rest on the plaintiff to establish with requisite sufficiency that the defendants acted with actual malice, this is not true on motion for summary judgment. Hence, the defendants as movants for summary judgment, would be required to establish the non-existence of actual malice.
In the case sub judice, since there was no showing as to actual malice, we cannot say that the defendants carried the burden imposed on them at this state of the proceedings and thus it was not error to deny the motion for summary judgment based on this ground. See Thibadeau v. Crane,131 Ga.App. 591, 206 S.E.2d 609. See in this connection Cantrell v. Forest City Pub. Co., 419 U.S. 245, 95 S.Ct. 465, 42 L.Ed.2d 419, 426, supra.
2. Here the acts attributed to the plaintiff on the defendants' program were those of public nudity. We cannot hold as a matter of law that such a charge would not be defamatory. See American Broadcasting Etc. v. Simpson, 106 Ga.App. 230, 240, 126 S.E.2d 873; Montgomery v. Pacific & Southern Co., Inc., 131 Ga.App. 712, 715, 206 S.E.2d 631. See for example the Criminal Code of Georgia, §...
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...case defendants must prove the absence of actual malice to sustain their motion for summary judgment. Prairieland Broadcasters of Ga. v. Thompson, 135 Ga.App. 73(1), 217 S.E.2d 296. (b) First, we must determine whether the proceedings of the Board fall within the parameters of Code Ann. § 1......
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Savannah News-Press, Division Southeastern Newspapers Corp. v. Whetsell
...F.2d 858, 865 (5th Cir. 1970); Washington Post Co. v. Keogh, 365 F.2d 965, 968 (D.C.Cir. 1966). Cf. Prairieland Broadcasters of Ga., Inc. v. Thompson, 135 Ga.App. 73, 217 S.E.2d 296 (1975). Under this statement of the law, Savannah News-Press was entitled to summary judgment; and it was err......