Veno v. Meredith

• Citation: 357 Pa.Super. 85,515 A.2d 571
• Parties: , 107 Lab.Cas. P 55,773, 2 IER Cases 1702 Carl A. VENO and Carl T. Davies, Appellants, v. Charles P. MEREDITH, III, Ella C. Meredith, and The Free Press, Appellees.
• Decision Date: 22 September 1986
• Court: Pennsylvania Superior Court

Page 571

515 A.2d 571

357 Pa.Super. 85, 107 Lab.Cas. P 55,773,

2 IER Cases 1702

Carl A. VENO and Carl T. Davies, Appellants, v. Charles P. MEREDITH, III, Ella C. Meredith, and The Free Press, Appellees.

Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Argued June 17, 1986.

Filed Sept. 22, 1986.

[357 Pa.Super. 88] John M. Yarema, Emmaus, for appellants.

Michael S. Goodwin, Doylestown, for appellees.

Before CIRILLO, President Judge, and CAVANAUGH and TAMILIA, JJ.

CAVANAUGH, Judge.

On December 28, 1979, Carl A. Veno and Carl T. Davies, appellants, were discharged from their employment with a Quakertown, Pennsylvania newspaper, The Free Press. Davies had been a reporter with the newspaper and Veno its managing editor. On December 28, 1979, an article authored by Davies appeared on the front page of the paper which portrayed a Bucks County judge in an unfavorable light.

The article was titled, "Bucks Judge's Business Dealings Questioned." It stated that the Judge "may be vulnerable to violations of conflict of interest prohibitions in the state Code of Judicial Conduct as a result of his business dealings" with a certain "millionaire sportsman and developer." The article further stated that the Judge is President of a residential development corporation and that his business associate in this project, (the aforementioned "millionaire sportsman and developer"), often "wind[s] up in court" as either a plaintiff or defendant in civil suits. And, that the business associate recently had been involved in a case "initially scheduled to be heard before" the Judge. This, according to the article, "nearly placed the judge in apparent conflict with the state Code of Judicial Conduct." The article continued:

Canon 5 of the code requires that 'a judge should relegate his extra-judicial activities to minimize the risk of conflict with his judicial duties.'

According to the canon, 'a judge should refrain from financial and business dealings that tend to reflect adversely on his impartiality, interfere with the proper performance of his judicial duties, exploit his judicial position, or involve him in frequent transactions with lawyers or persons likely to come before the court on which he serves.'

The article states that the judge was spared from having to decide whether to disqualify himself because of a "legal maneuver." And, "[i]f his business relationship with [the developer] continues, [the judge] would appear to be more apt to violate a provision of Canon 5 of the Code of Judicial Conduct prohibiting a judge from financial dealings that would involve him in ' ... frequent transactions with lawyers or persons likely to come before the court on which he serves.' "

Reacting to the article, the newspaper's owner, Charles M. Meredith, III told the editor, Veno, that the articles were unfair to the judge and ordered him to dismiss the author, Davies. When Veno refused, Mr. Meredith himself discharged not only Davies but also Veno.

On December 31, 1979, the Free Press published an editorial by Meredith which apologized to the judge. Under the heading "Our Opinion", this editorial states:

I regret the tone of the articles which appeared in Friday's edition of The Free Press concerning [The Bucks County Judge]. The articles implied that [The Judge] would have a possible conflict of interest if he presided over a case involving his own business associate.

The fact is that [The Judge] did not preside in an appeal involving his business associate. I believe that [The Judge] is an honest man. It is impossible that he would ever put himself in the position of a conflict of interest.

The Friday articles were not thoroughly researched and contained unsupported and indirect charges of conflict of interest. As a result, the writer and editor of this newspaper no longer are affiliated with the Free Press.

My concern in publishing The Free Press transcends producing the best local news coverage. Above that, lie the most important journalistic rules: Fairness and accuracy.

We were unfair in our reporting of the ... stories [about the Judge] and I apologize publicly to the Judge and to our readers.

The challenge for us remains unchanged. Get the story straight, and be fair. If there is something wrong in our communities, this newspaper will continue to tell the people what the problems are. But the proper research must be made, and both sides of an issue must be fairly presented.

Our job is to publish reports which are accurate and fair. The Free Press' new Editor Gary Andrews and I are committed to this precept.

Charles Meredith

Publisher

On January 2, 1980, the new editor of The Free Press wrote the following published editorial:

OUR OPINION

New editor of Free Press

Two things a newspaper must always strive to maintain are its high standards of truth and a keen eye for fairness. As the new editor of the Free Press, I can assure the public that those two standards will be our primary concerns.

If there is one aspect of its existence that a newspaper must maintain to do its job effectively, it is the public's trust. Without the public's belief that the newspaper is presenting a fair and unbiased look at the truth, the entire concept of a "free Press" dwindles. No longer could we be called a "watchdog for the public" if we ourselves did not adhere to the highest standards of ethical conduct.

There will be no vendettas, no witchhunts where none are indicated. The Free Press will be known as possessing the highest standards of fairness. It is important that the public be aware of this. When you see a story in this newspaper, you will know that it has met the tests of fairness and accuracy.

Lest the servants of government feel The Free Press will not keep a sharp eye on their doings, let them be forewarned. Wherever the public's money or trust is involved, this newspaper will be diligent. Elected officials who betray the public trust should be routed out, and we will be continually on the alert for such individuals.

....

Veno and Davies filed a complaint against Charles M. Meredith, III, Ella C. Meredith, and the Free Press alleging that:

1) they were libeled by the aforementioned editorials published after their discharge; and,

2) their employment contracts were illegally terminated.

Appellees filed preliminary objections in the form of a demurrer. The Honorable Donald F. Wieand, specially presiding, entered an order sustaining the appellees' preliminary objections to the appellants' causes of action alleging defamation. Post-trial motions, filed to overturn the dismissal, were denied.

Thereafter, the case went to trial on the issues concerning the termination of employment. At the conclusion of appellants' case-in-chief, the court granted a nonsuit in favor of appellees and against Veno. The case for Davies went to the jury and a verdict was returned in his favor. Veno filed post-trial motions to remove the nonsuit. These motions were denied, and this appeal followed. Davies' discharge is not at issue in this appeal.

I.

Appellants first allege that they presented sufficient facts from which a jury could conclude that the editorials are capable of a defamatory meaning. We disagree.

"Preliminary objections in the nature of a demurrer admit as true all well pleaded, factual averments and all inferences fairly deducible therefrom.... Conclusions of law, however, are not admitted by a demurrer." Cunningham v. Prudential Property & Cas. Ins., 340 Pa.Super. 130, 133, 489 A.2d 875, 877 (1985).

Appellants argue that the editorials constitute libel because they attacked their professional integrity and competence. We disagree.

"Initially ... it is the court's function and not the jury's to determine whether a given communication is capable of defamatory construction." Vitteck v. Washington Broadcasting Co., 256 Pa.Super. 427, 431-32, 389 A.2d 1197, 1199 (1978). "If the court determines that the statement is capable of defamatory meaning, it is for the jury to determine whether it was so understood by the recipient." Corabi v. Curtis Pub. Co., 441 Pa. 432, 441, 273 A.2d 899, 904 (1971). Conversely, if a court determines that a statement is not capable of a defamatory meaning, then it is proper for the court to sustain a demurrer.

The trial court concluded that the two newspaper editorials in question were opinions. "Whether a particular statement constitutes fact or opinion is a question of law." Braig v. Field Communications, 310 Pa.Super. 569, 579, 456 A.2d 1366, 1372 (1983).

In ascertaining whether a communication is capable of defamatory meaning, a special standard is applied when the communication is an opinion. A statement in the form of an opinion is actionable only if it "may reasonably be understood to imply the existence of undisclosed defamatory facts justifying the opinion." Beckman v. Dunn, 276 Pa.Super. 527, 535, 419 A.2d 583, 587 (1980) (emphasis supplied), citing Restatement (Second) Torts § 566 (1977). "A simple expression of opinion based on disclosed ... facts is not itself sufficient for an action of defamation ..." Braig, supra, 310 Pa.Super. at 581, 456 A.2d at 1373, citing Restatement (Second) Torts § 566 Comment c (1977).

The lower court properly sustained appellees' demurrer. The editorial by Charles Meredith, publisher of The Free Press, was not capable of defamatory meaning. It merely stated an opinion that the tone of the article, which suggested impropriety on the Judge's part, was not supported by the facts asserted in the article. The Davies article is a disclosed fact as it was published for public consumption in the same newspaper, just days before the editorial. Nowhere in his editorial did Mr. Meredith imply that he was privy to some additional facts, beyond the Davies article, which supported his opinion. The editorial specifically states that the Judge did not have a conflict of interest, and that it was improbable that an honest man such as the Judge would ever preside over a case...