Sibley v. Holyoke Transcript-Telegram Pub. Co., Inc.

• Citation: 391 Mass. 468,461 N.E.2d 823
• Decision Date: 14 March 1984
• Docket Number: TRANSCRIPT-TELEGRAM
• Parties: , 10 Media L. Rep. 1557 Robert W. SIBLEY 1 v. HOLYOKEPUBLISHING CO., INC.
• Court: United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts

Page 823

461 N.E.2d 823

391 Mass. 468, 10 Media L. Rep. 1557

Robert W. SIBLEY ¹ v. HOLYOKE TRANSCRIPT-TELEGRAM PUBLISHING CO., INC.

Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts,

Hampden.

Argued Dec. 8, 1983.

Decided March 14, 1984.

Raymond R. Randall, Holyoke, for defendant.

Philip O'Brien, Jr., Holyoke, for plaintiff.

James C. Heigham, Boston, for Massachusetts Newspaper Publishers Ass'n, amicus curiae, submitted a brief.

Before HENNESSEY, C.J., and WILKINS, NOLAN, LYNCH and O'CONNOR, JJ.

NOLAN, Justice.

This court granted the plaintiff's application for direct appellate review of this libel action following judgment for the defendant in the Superior Court. The plaintiff, Robert W. Sibley, raises the issue whether a newspaper's qualified privilege of "fair report" of judicial proceedings extends to publication of statements contained in an affidavit presented to a court official in order to obtain a search warrant, where the warrant in fact issued. The Holyoke Transcript-Telegram Publishing Co., Inc. (Transcript-Telegram), cross-appeals a jury's special verdict that the newspaper acted negligently in not verifying the statements summarized in the affidavit by directly contacting the persons who made those statements. We hold that the qualified privilege extends to this case, and in view of this determination, we need not reach the issue of negligence in the reporter's research of the affidavit's contents.

The events before trial were these. On April 12, 1977, Stephen Kamienski, a reporter for the Transcript-Telegram, learned, through publication in a competing newspaper, of a criminal investigation concerning Sibley's oil heating service. Kamienski inspected papers at the clerk's office in the District Court, particularly the affidavit in support of an application for a search warrant presented by the police officer investigating complaints against Sibley. Kamienski learned that a search warrant pertaining to the personal and business records of the plaintiff had been issued by a judge of that court. Kamienski made several telephone calls to determine more fully the scope and nature of the investigation and allegations, but did not communicate with the police officer who applied for the warrant, nor with those persons whose statements were summarized in the affidavit.

An account of the investigation was published that day by the Transcript-Telegram under the headline "Investigation probes alleged oil co. fraud." The article stated that the police and the office of the district attorney were pursuing allegations of fraud made against Sibley's oil heating company. The article recounted that the investigation commenced after police obtained a search warrant for various records. The warrant issued after four former employees were questioned by police concerning Sibley's business practices. Further, the article stated: "An affidavit signed by [the investigating officer] and attached to a search warrant issued by the court March 25, contains allegations made by three former deliverymen and a former bookkeeper, who were employed by Sibley." Thereafter, the article recited the circumstances of the allegedly fraudulent practices as revealed by the former employees with such allegation attributed to the affidavit.

The evidence concerning Sibley's alleged wrongful practices was later presented to a grand jury, which returned a no bill. This action for libel was commenced on October 27, 1977, and tried in the fall of 1982.

The judge submitted ten special verdict questions for the jury's consideration. See Mass.R.Civ.P. 49(a), 365 Mass. 812 (1974). In response, the jury found that the statements published by the Transcript-Telegram concerning Sibley's allegedly fraudulent practices were false. The jury found that the publication was made without malice, without knowledge of its falsity, and without reckless disregard of its truth or falsity.

The jury found, however, that the newspaper did not act reasonably in checking the truth or falsity of the statements before publication. Yet in response to the next question the jury determined that the article did "constitute a fair and accurate account of the proceedings which resulted in the issuance of a warrant." The jury then returned its assessment of the damages which would fairly compensate Sibley and his company if "otherwise entitled to recover," finding $30,000 to be reasonable as to Sibley and finding no damage as to the company.

Both parties moved for entry of judgment on...