Zaret v. Joliet Park Dist.

• Decision Date: 22 December 1980
• Docket Number: No. 80-156,80-156
• Citation: 415 N.E.2d 659,91 Ill.App.3d 225,47 Ill.Dec. 654
• Parties: , 47 Ill.Dec. 654 Frank ZARET d/b/a Alba Builders, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JOLIET PARK DISTRICT and Joliet Herald Newspaper, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 659

415 N.E.2d 659

91 Ill.App.3d 225, 47 Ill.Dec. 654

Frank ZARET d/b/a Alba Builders, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. JOLIET PARK DISTRICT and Joliet Herald Newspaper Defendants-Appellees.

No. 80-156.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Third District.

Dec. 22, 1980.

Frank Zaret, pro se.

Byron D. Knight, Judge, Drew, Cipolla & Kurnik, Ltd., Park Ridge, for defendants-appellees.

BARRY, Justice.

Plaintiff Frank Zaret has appealed pro se from the dismissal of his third amended complaint purporting to be an action for libel. According to the allegations of the complaint, plaintiff submitted a bid for roofing work on a swimming facility belonging to the Joliet Park District, defendant herein. The Park District Board awarded the contract for the job to Adler Builders based upon a bid $564 higher than plaintiff's bid. After the Park District Board meeting, the Joliet Herald published the following account:

"The Joliet Park Board on Monday night accepted the high bid of $8,564 from Adler Roofing to make roof repairs at Inwood Recreation Center. The low bid of $8,000 from Alba Builders was rejected without discussion. Commissioner Paul Briese made the motion to go with the high bidder. After the meeting he said he felt Adler would do a better job, and he was not that familiar with Alba."

In his pro se complaint, plaintiff alleged that the foregoing publication was "without foundation," "a breach of priviledge" (sic), and Libel per. se. " In addition, plaintiff recounted at length his subsequent demands for an apology, the Board's failure to take any action following those demands, and a wide assortment of past insults and offenses against plaintiff allegedly perpetrated by various public boards and officials. Most of these allegations can be characterized as irrelevant to the cause of action for libel which is the apparent basis of the suit, and as such, they must be disregarded.

We note initially that Park Commissioner Briese is not a party to this action, and also that the Joliet Herald Newspaper was never served with process and is similarly not a party to this suit.

Plaintiff asserts that the complaint was erroneously dismissed because the publication was injurious to his reputation as a builder, because the Board's refusal to explain why the high bid was accepted was an abuse of privilege and power, and because the Board's silence is negative to plaintiff. The threshold issue is whether or not the published words were defamatory, and we conclude that they were not.

"A defamation is the publication of anything injurious to the good name or reputation of another, or which tends to bring him into disrepute." Whitby v. Associates Discount Corp. (3rd Dist. 1965), 59 Ill.App.2d 337, 340, 207 N.E.2d 482, 484.

In order to give rise to a cause of action, the defamatory words must have also been falsely communicated. (Hudson v. Slack Furniture Co. (4th Dist. 1943), 318 Ill.App. 15, 47 N.E.2d 502.) In the case before us, the alleged defamation was the statement by Briese that he felt Adler Roofing would do a better job than Alba.

A similar expression of opinion was the subject of litigation in the case of Byars v. Kolodziej (4th Dist. 1977), 48 Ill.App.3d...