Stanton v. Metro Corp.
| Decision Date | 07 March 2005 |
| Docket Number | Civil Action No. 04-10751-FDS. |
| Citation | 357 F.Supp.2d 369 |
| Parties | Stacey STANTON, Plaintiff, v. METRO CORPORATION, Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
John P. Donohue, Fuller, Rosenberg, Palmer & Beliveau, Worcester, MA, for Plaintiff.
David E. Plotkin, Robert A. Bertsche, Thomas L. Douglas, Prince, Lobel Glovsky & Tye LLP, Boston, MA, for Defendant.
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER ON MOTION TO DISMISS
This is a civil action arising out of the unauthorized publication of a photograph of plaintiff Stacey Stanton in Boston magazine, which is owned by defendant Metro Corporation. Plaintiff contends that the publication of her photograph in connection with an article on teenage sexuality defamed her under Massachusetts law and constituted an invasion of her privacy under Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 214, § 1B. Pending before the Court is the defendant's motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) on grounds that neither the photograph nor the article defamed plaintiff, and that her allegations fail to state a claim for invasion of privacy under Massachusetts law.
In May 2003, Boston magazine printed an article by Alexandra Hall on sexuality and promiscuity among Boston-area teenagers. The headline of the article is "The Mating Habits of the Suburban High School Teenager." Defendant's Memorandum, Exhibit A. Above the headline, in smaller lettering, is the subheading: Id.
The basic thesis of the article is that high school has, over the last few years, become an increasingly fertile ground for sexual experimentation, and that contemporary teenagers "are both sexually advanced ... and sexually daring." Id. The author reports that teenagers often shun committed relationships in favor of "quick and emotionally distant sex," and that a great deal of teenage sexual experimentation coincides with substance abuse. Id. "These days," she writes, it is common for "[s]ingle boys and girls with nothing to do [to] go in a group to a friend's house ... drink or smoke pot, then pair off and engage in no-strings `hookups.'" Id. The author also reports that sexual promiscuity is rampant; one teenager is quoted as saying, "But the truth is, everybody's having casual sex and pretty much everybody's doing it with multiple partners."1
The article states that the author bases her story on recent studies on teenage sexuality, statistics on teenage sexual activity and substance abuse, and months of interviews with students from high schools in the Boston area. Interspersed through the article are excerpts from the author's interviews with teenagers about their personal sexual experiences and views on sexuality. A large photograph accompanies the beginning of the article and covers most of the first two pages.2 The photograph depicts five students at a high school prom, apparently congregated near an exit door. The boys are dressed in tuxedos, and the girls are wearing formal dresses, makeup, and jewelry. Three of the students are smoking cigarettes, and one is drinking from a plastic cup. Plaintiff, the fifth student, is looking in the direction of the camera with an apparently friendly expression. Her face and a portion of her body are clearly visible. She is wearing a black sleeveless dress and is neither drinking nor smoking.
On the same page as the photograph, beneath the headlines and initial text, is the following caption and disclaimer:
The photos on these pages are from an award-winning five-year project on teen sexuality by photojournalist Dan Habib. The individuals pictured are unrelated to the people or events described in this story. The names of the teenagers interviewed for the story have been changed.
Id. These statements are italicized and printed in the smallest font on the page.3 Plaintiff is not named anywhere in the article.4
Six smaller photographs on subsequent pages of the article, without captions, comprise the remainder of the illustrations. These photographs show two girls air-kissing; a girl and a boy in an embrace; a girl in a one-piece swimsuit holding a towel over her body as a boy in swim trunks looks in her direction; a male with what appears to be an inflated condom over his head; two males sitting by a pool while a female is swimming; a young woman sitting alone surrounded by what appears to be bustling people; and a male and a female kissing.
Plaintiff filed a complaint for defamation and invasion of privacy in the Worcester Superior Court on January 21, 2000. Plaintiff states that she "was not the subject of," nor did she participate in "an award winning five year project on teen sexuality by photojournalist Dan Habib," and that she "never authorized the use of her photograph in conjunction with that project." Amended Complaint, ¶ 16. The complaint further alleges that (1) she was defamed by defendant because (a) the juxtaposition of her photograph and the article "insinuated that [she] was a person engaged in the activity described in the article," and (b) the language of the caption falsely insinuated that plaintiff was part of "an award winning five-year project on teen sexuality;" and (2) that the publication of her photograph in conjunction with the article amounted to an invasion of her privacy and portrayed her in a false light in violation of Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 214 § 1B. Id. at ¶¶ 8-9, 14-17. Plaintiff claims to have suffered damages in the form of harm to her reputation and sense of personal dignity, humiliation, and emotional pain and mental anguish. Id. at ¶ 19.
Plaintiff's action was removed to the District Court on diversity grounds on April 13, 2004. On June 6, 2004, defendant filed the pending motion to dismiss plaintiff's claims pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted.
A court may not dismiss a complaint for failure to state a claim under Fed.R.Civ.P. 12(b)(6) "unless it appears, beyond doubt, that the [p]laintiff can prove no set of facts in support of his claim which would entitle him to relief." Judge v. City of Lowell, 160 F.3d 67, 72 (1st Cir.1998)(quoting Conley v. Gibson, 355 U.S. 41, 45-46, 78 S.Ct. 99, 2 L.Ed.2d 80 (1957)). In considering the merits of a motion to dismiss, the court may look only to the facts alleged in the pleadings, documents attached as exhibits or incorporated by reference in the complaint, and matters of which judicial notice can be taken. Nollet v. Justices of the Trial Court of Mass., 83 F.Supp.2d 204, 208 (D.Mass.2000) aff'd, 248 F.3d 1127 (1st Cir.2000). Furthermore, the court must accept all factual allegations in the complaint as true and draw all reasonable inferences in the plaintiff's favor. Langadinos v. American Airlines, Inc., 199 F.3d 68, 69 (1st Cir.2000).
In order to maintain an action for defamation under Massachusetts law, a non-public figure such as the plaintiff must allege facts to show that (1) the defendant made a statement "of and concerning" the plaintiff to a third party; (2) the statement was defamatory, meaning it could damage the plaintiff's reputation in the community;5 (3) defendant was at fault in making the statement;6 and (4) the statement either caused the plaintiff economic loss, or is actionable without proof of economic loss. See Ravnikar v. Bogojavlensky, 438 Mass. 627, 629-630, 782 N.E.2d 508 (2003); see also Yohe v. Nugent, 321 F.3d 35, 40 (1st Cir.2003).7
Plaintiff contends that defendant made two separate defamatory statements. First, she claims that, by juxtaposing her picture and the article, defendant improperly insinuated that she engaged in the conduct described in the article. Second, she claims that the language of the italicized caption improperly suggested that she was part of an award-winning project on teen sexuality.
Defendant argues, in essence, that the challenged publication is not "of and concerning the plaintiff," and is not reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning, because the photograph does not portray plaintiff engaging in improper behavior; the accompanying article describes a variety of behavior, not all of which is misconduct, and none of which is ascribed to the plaintiff; and the disclaimer expressly states that the individuals photographed are unrelated to the events in the article. Defendant also argues that it was not negligent, and that plaintiff has not alleged that defendant made a false statement of fact.8
There is no dispute that the photograph depicts the plaintiff. Nor is there any dispute that the article contains certain statements about sexual misconduct9 that, if attributed to the plaintiff, are defamatory. What is in dispute is whether there is a connection between the two — that is, whether a reasonable person would attribute the behavior described in the article to the plaintiff. That question can be framed in two ways: whether the article is about the plaintiff at all (i.e., is it "of and concerning the plaintiff") or whether the photograph and statements together state something derogatory about the plaintiff (i.e., is it "reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning"). Because the two issues are factually and conceptually intertwined under the circumstances of this case, the Court will consider them together.
Plaintiff is required to prove that the allegedly defamatory statement was "of and concerning" her. Ravnikar, 438 Mass. at 629, 782 N.E.2d 508. A statement is "of and concerning" the plaintiff if (1) defendant intended the statement to refer to plaintiff and it was so understood or (2) persons could reasonably interpret defendant's statement to refer to plaintiff and defendant was negligent in publishing it in such a way that it...
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Stanton v. Metro Corp., 05-1552.
...defamatory statements at issue are not `of and concerning' [Stanton], and are not reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning." 357 F.Supp.2d 369, 382 (D.Mass.2005). In reaching these conclusions, the district court relied heavily on the disclaimer appearing at the bottom of the first column......