World Wrestling Federation Intertainment v. Bozell, 00 Civ. 8616(DC).
| Decision Date | 24 May 2001 |
| Docket Number | No. 00 Civ. 8616(DC).,00 Civ. 8616(DC). |
| Citation | 142 F.Supp.2d 514 |
| Parties | WORLD WRESTLING FEDERATION ENTERTAINMENT, INC., Plaintiff, v. L. Brent BOZELL, III, Media Research Center, Inc., d/b/a Parents Television Council, Parents Television Council, James Lewis, Mark Honig, and Various John and Jane Does, Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York |
Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP by Eugene R. Licker, New York City by Jerry S. McDevitt, Terry Budd, Jason L. Richey, Curtis B. Krasik, Pittsburgh, PA, for Plaintiff.
Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker LLP by Thomas A. Leghorn, New York City, Herge, Sparks & Christopher LLP by Robert Sparks, Jr., Linda Stiles Shively, McLean, VA, for Defendants L. Brent Bozell, III, Media Research Center, Inc., Parents Television Council, Inc., Mark Honig, and the John and Jane Doe Defendants.
Michael J. Quarequio, Fort Lauderdale, FL, for Defendant James Lewis.
On January 25, 2001, in a Florida criminal court, fourteen year-old Lionel Tate was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of a six year-old girl. During the proceedings, Tate's attorney argued the "wrestling defense" — the boy was an avid fan of professional wrestling who was simply mimicking wrestling moves he had seen on television when he accidentally killed the girl. The defense was rejected. Lionel Tate was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
This death and the deaths of three other children prompted defendants in this case — self-proclaimed media "monitors," their executives, and Lionel Tate's attorney — to publicly attack plaintiff World Wrestling Federation Entertainment, Inc. (the "WWFE") and its highly successful wrestling programs, including the television show WWF SMACKDOWN! Defendants publicly blamed the WWFE and WWF SMACKDOWN! for the deaths of the four children. For example, one of the defendants publicly stated that "four children aged 4 to six years old[] have had their lives tragically cut short by peers who were emulating wrestling moves they learned by watching programs like WWF SMACKDOWN!" (Am.Compl.¶ 46). Certain defendants also posted a statement on the Internet alluding to the "sheer arrogance and irresponsibility" of the WWFE, referring to "news reports of four children having killed four children copycatting what they watched on television," and asserting that "[t]he finger is pointing directly to Smackdown!" (Id. ¶ 45).
In their amended complaint, the WWFE alleges that these and other statements made by defendants were false and defamatory. The WWFE contends, for example, that Lionel Tate and the other children could not have been influenced by WWF SMACKDOWN! because the show did not begin airing until after three of the incidents had occurred and only two days before the fourth. The WWFE further contends that defendants made the false statements for commercial purposes — to raise funding for themselves. The WWFE alleges, for example, that defendants distributed a videotape to potential contributors attacking the WWFE and showing, without permission, excerpts of copyrighted broadcasts of WWFE events.
The WWFE sues defendants for, among other things, defamation, tortious interference with business relations, violations of the Lanham Act, and copyright infringement. Defendants move to dismiss the Amended Complaint, arguing, among other things, that their speech is protected by the First Amendment and that the WWFE has failed to state a claim with respect to any of its causes of action. Defendants contend that the statements are protected because they were made as part of a good faith effort to reduce the level of violence and sex on television and to promote "responsibility" in the entertainment media. Tate's attorney also moves to dismiss for lack of personal jurisdiction and on the grounds his statements were protected by the judicial proceedings privilege.
The First Amendment does, of course, protect public discourse on the subject of sex and violence in the media. Defendants are free to criticize the WWFE and to express the opinion that the WWFE's shows are excessively violent and not in society's best interests. What defendants may not do, however, is make false and defamatory statements. The First Amendment does not protect statements that are false and defamatory even if they are made in the context of a public debate about issues of general concern.
Here, the WWFE alleges, with specificity, that defendants made statements that were false and defamatory, that were made with malice, and that were made for commercial purposes — raising money and self-promotion. Assuming, as I must, that the allegations of the Amended Complaint are true for purposes of this motion, I conclude that the WWFE has stated claims upon which relief can be granted. Accordingly, and for the reasons set forth below, defendants' motions to dismiss the Amended Complaint are denied in all respects.
The WWFE is a media and entertainment company. It markets products under the popular and successful World Wrestling Federation (the "WWF") brand. It began airing a television program entitled WWF SMACKDOWN! on August 26, 1999. (Am.Compl.¶ 30).
Defendant Media Research Center (the "MRC") is a non-profit corporation that purportedly seeks to "bring political balance to the nation's news media and responsibility to the entertainment media." (Id. ¶ 2). In 1995, the MRC established defendant Parents Television Council (the "PTC") as its entertainment division. The PTC's stated purpose is to monitor television programming and to denounce what it considers inappropriate programs. (Id. ¶ 15). At the end of 2000, the PTC became an independent non-profit corporation, organized under the laws of Delaware. (Id. ¶¶ 2-3). The PTC, however, continues to perform the same activities as it performed under the MRC. (Id. ¶ 3). The PTC claims to have approximately 625,000 members.
Director of the PTC.1
Defendant James Lewis is a defense attorney, residing in Florida. Lewis was defense counsel for fourteen year-old Lionel Tate in his criminal trial for the 1999 death of six year-old Tiffany Eunick. During the criminal proceedings, Lewis argued that Tate was "simply ... replicating what he saw being done by Sting, Hulk Hogan or The Rock, familiar names to wrestling aficionados." (Opp. Mem. Ex. A (Sentencing Order of Judge Joel T. Lazarus, Florida v. Tate, No. 99-14401CF10A, at 12)). Between September 1999 and May 2000, Lewis appeared on a number of television and radio programs, including "Dateline," "Leeza," MSNBC, Court TV, and CBS Radio, to discuss the Lionel Tate case and his defense. (See, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶¶ 65, 66, 70, 71, 72, 73). On March 9, 2001, after having been found guilty of murder in the first degree, Lionel Tate was sentenced to life in prison.
In the summer of 1999, the PTC defendants began a campaign attacking the WWFE and WWF SMACKDOWN!, for what they perceived as the excessive violence and inappropriateness of plaintiffs programming. (Id. ¶ 28). The stated goal of the PTC's campaign was to "educate" its members and the WWFE's sponsors and advertisers to the purported fact that the WWFE and WWF SMACKDOWN! caused or was responsible for the deaths of four children. (Id. ¶ 23).
As part of its campaign to "educate" its members, the PTC engaged in the following: sending "Action Alerts" and "Urgent Grams" via the Internet; sending letters; publishing articles on its Internet website and in the "PTC Insider," its newsletter; having Bozell write about the WWFE in his nationally syndicated column; and sending fundraising videotapes that focused on the WWFE and its products. With respect to "educating" the WWFE's corporate advertisers and sponsors, the PTC's campaign included: sending the corporations letters and videotapes; urging the PTC members to contact the corporations directly; speaking at the shareholders' meeting of the corporations; sending letters to politicians (the United States armed forces are advertisers); and advertising in newspapers.
Within these many communications, defendants made allegedly false and defamatory statements about the WWFE and its products. These statements fall into two categories: (1) statements asserting that the WWFE (and its programs, including WWF SMACKDOIWN!) "caused and/or is responsible for the deaths of four particular children" (see, e.g., Am. Compl. ¶ 23); and (2) statements misrepresenting the number of corporate sponsors and advertisers who have "pulled" or "withdrawn" their support of WWF SMACKDOWN! (collectively, the "defamatory statements"). (See, e.g., id. ¶ 27).
An example of the first category is the following statement made by Bozell and posted on the Internet:
The sheer arrogance and irresponsibility of the WWF while they line their pockets is frightening, especially when you have news reports of four children having killed four children copycatting what they watched on television. The finger is pointing directly to Smackdown! and they still don't care. You start flirting with the word evil at that point.
(Id. ¶ 45). Another example is a statement made by a PTC spokesperson at a meeting of shareholders of MCI, a WWF SMACKDOWN! sponsor:
Again, I must stress to you stockholders that wrestling shows are having a deadly impact on our children. Four children have been killed by peers who were emulating wrestling moves they learned by watching children programs such as WWF Smackdown!. Four children, from 14 months to six years old, had their live[s] cut tragically short because of the effect wrestling had on their peers.
(Id. ¶ 91). The WWFE contends that the statements in the first category are...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Gym Door Repairs, Inc. v. Young Equip. Sales, Inc.
...participation in the furtherance of a plan or purpose; and (4) resulting damage or injury." World Wrestling Fed'n Entm't, Inc. v. Bozell , 142 F.Supp.2d 514, 532 (S.D.N.Y.2001). Under New York law, in order to be liable for acting in concert with a primary tortfeasor under a theory of eithe......
-
Mcnamee v. Clemens
...television packager brought action against professional boxer for libel per se and quantum meruit); World Wrestling Federation Entertainment Inc. v. Bozell, 142 F.Supp.2d 514 (S.D.N.Y.2001). In DiBella, plaintiff, a boxing matchmaker formerly employed by the Home Box Office (“HBO”), alleged......
-
Medtech Products Inc. v. Ranir, LLC
...participation in the furtherance of a plan or purpose; and (4) resulting damage or injury." World Wrestling Fed'n Entm't, Inc. v. Bozell, 142 F.Supp.2d 514, 532 (S.D.N.Y.2001) In her R & R, Magistrate Judge Smith recommended that Medtech's claim for civil conspiracy should be dismissed on t......
-
Meisel v. Grunberg
...of a conspiracy ... to demonstrate that each defendant's conduct was part of a common scheme." World Wrestling Fed'n Entm't, Inc. v. Bozell, 142 F.Supp.2d 514, 532-33 (S.D.N.Y.2001) (citations omitted). To establish a claim of civil conspiracy, plaintiff must demonstrate the underlying tort......
-
Table of Cases
...1105 World Care Clinical v. Bracco Diagnostics, 2009 WL 468870 (Mass. App. Ct. 2009), 935 World Wrestling Fed’n Entm’t v. Bozell, 142 F. Supp. 2d 514 (S.D.N.Y. 2001), 1294 Worldspan, L.P. v. Ultimate Living Group, 390 F. Supp2d (D. Del. 2005), 794 Worthington v. Anderson, 386 F.3d 1314 (10t......