Scholz v. Delp
| Decision Date | 25 November 2015 |
| Docket Number | SJC–11511, SJC–11621. |
| Citation | 41 N.E.3d 38,473 Mass. 242 |
| Parties | Donald Thomas SCHOLZ & another v. Micki DELP. Donald Thomas Scholz v. Boston Herald, Inc., & others. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
Nicholas B. Carter (Edward Foye & Seth J. Robbins with him), Boston, for the plaintiffs.
Kathy B. Weinman, Boston, for Micki Delp.
Jeffrey S. Robbins, Boston, for Boston Herald, Inc.
Bruce D. Brown & Gregg P. Leslie, of the District of Columbia, & Cynthia A. Gierhart, of New York, for Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press & others, amici curiae, submitted a brief.
Present: SPINA, BOTSFORD, DUFFLY, & LENK, JJ.
DUFFLY
, J.
In the mid–1970s, Donald Thomas Scholz, a musician, composer, recording engineer, and record producer, founded the rock band “Boston.” After many years playing in the band, Brad Delp, who was its lead singer, committed suicide on March 9, 2007. The Boston Herald, Inc., published three stories regarding Brad's suicide, written by columnists Gayle Fee and Laura Raposa, who relied on information from Brad's former wife, Micki Delp,3 and various unnamed “insiders” and “friends.” Scholz filed an action for defamation in the Superior Court against Micki, arguing that the statements made by her and reported in the newspaper articles insinuated that Scholz was responsible for Brad's suicide. Scholz later brought an action in the Superior Court for defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress against the Boston Herald, Inc., and its two columnists (collectively, the Herald), based on the same statements as reported in the three articles.
The two cases were consolidated in the Superior Court after Micki had filed a motion for summary judgment. In August, 2011, a Superior Court judge allowed Micki's motion, Scholz appealed, and the Appeals Court reversed.4 See Scholz v. Delp, 83 Mass.App.Ct. 590, 988 N.E.2d 4 (2013)
. We granted Micki's petition for
further appellate review. Thereafter, in ruling on the Herald's motion for summary judgment, a different Superior Court judge concluded that Scholz could not establish a required element of his libel claim, i.e., that the articles contained any false statements of fact, and allowed the Herald's motion for summary judgment on the ground that the reported statements constituted nonactionable opinion. The judge also allowed the Herald's motion for costs. We granted Scholz's petition for direct appellate review, and paired the cases for argument.
We conclude that the newspaper articles and statements contained therein constitute nonactionable opinions based on disclosed nondefamatory facts that do not imply undisclosed defamatory facts.5 Because the statements even arguably attributing responsibility for Brad's suicide to Scholz were statements of opinion and not verifiable fact, and therefore could not form the basis of a claim of defamation, we conclude that summary judgment properly was entered for the Herald by the second motion judge, and that the first motion judge correctly allowed Micki's motion for summary judgment.
1. Background. We summarize the undisputed facts, drawn from the summary judgment record. The band Boston was founded in 1975, after Scholz and Brad obtained a recording contract with CBS/Epic Records, and Scholz hired band members Barry Goudreau, Sib Hashian, and Fran Sheehan to join the group. The band toured very successfully for a number of years, but, approximately thirty years before Brad's death, there was a falling out between Scholz and the latter three band members. All of the original members of the group, other than Scholz and Brad, left the band. Scholz continued to tour with different group members, including Brad, under the name “Boston.” Fran Cosmo joined the band as a backup singer for Brad, and as he got older and had more difficulty reaching the high notes for which Boston was known, Brad was dependent on Cosmo's voice as backup to his. In addition to touring with the band, Brad maintained his friendship with the former members of the group, who had discontinued all contact with Scholz, and played with them when he was able to do so.
Brad had a long history of anxiety and depression. He suffered from stage fright before performances with Boston and with another group with which he had played in the early 1990s. In 1991, Brad was prescribed anti-anxiety medication, which did not help. Micki and Brad separated that year. They were divorced in 1996, after sixteen years of marriage, due to Brad's mental health issues, but they remained friends. Brad began dating Pam Sullivan in 2000; they were engaged on December 25, 2006, and planned to marry in August, 2007. Pam and her younger sister Meg6 moved into Brad's house.
Sometime at the end of 2006, Scholz told Brad that Boston would be performing on tour in the summer of 2007, and that rehearsals for the tour would begin on March 24, 2007. On February 28, 2007, Scholz told Brad that the initial summer performances had been confirmed. While the plan had been that Cosmo would join the tour, that invitation was rescinded. On March 1, 2007, Scholz sent an electronic mail message to Brad advising him that the summer tour was not confirmed.
At around the same time, Meg discovered that Brad had taped a small camera to the ceiling in her bedroom. Brad sent electronic mail messages to Meg and her boy friend expressing his sorrow over having “victimized” her and saying that he had “committed the most egregious act against her.” Meg responded, expressing concern that Brad would do something to harm himself. Brad replied, “I don't think anyone could think less of me as a person as I am feeling about myself at this moment.” Two days later, Brad informed Pam of his installation of the camera; Pam also feared that Brad would harm himself.
Brad committed suicide on March 9, 2007, having purchased the means to do so on March 8. He left several suicide notes, including one addressed to Pam, one to Micki, one to his two
adult children, one to Meg and her boy friend, and two for the public. One of the notes that were made public said, and, “I take complete and sole responsibility for my present situation.” The note also said, in reference to Pam, “[U]nfortunately she is totally unaware of what I have done.”
In March, 2007, the Herald published two articles concerning Brad's suicide. The articles, written by Fee and Raposa, appeared in the newspaper's entertainment news column, “Inside Track.” The first article, published on March 15, 2007, was titled, “Suicide confirmed in Delp's death,” and stated that it was based on information from “unnamed insiders.”7
The March 15 article stated, in relevant part:
remained so raw that Scholz wasn't invited to the private funeral service for Delp that the family held earlier this week.
On the day the article was published, Fee made a radio appearance in which she said that Scholz had caused Brad nothing but “grief.” On the same day, both Herald reporters spoke with Micki, who ultimately had agreed to their request for an interview after initially declining to give one. Following the interview, Fee sent an electronic mail message to Scholz's publicist, stating that Micki had said, “Brad was in despair because [Cosmo] was disinvited from the summer tour,” and asking for comment. Scholz responded that the decision to fire Cosmo had been a group decision.
On March 16, 2007, the Herald published a front-page article entitled, “Pal's snub made Delp do it: Boston rocker's ex-wife speaks.” The article stated, in relevant part:
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