Case Title: Twelker v. Shannon & Wilson

Citation: 564 P.2d 1131, 88 Wash. 2d 473

Docket Number: 

State: washington

Court: Washington Supreme Court

Date: 1977-04-21T00:00:00Z

Document:
88 Wn.2d 473 (1977) 564 P.2d 1131 NEIL H. TWELKER, Appellant, v. SHANNON & WILSON, INC., ET AL, Respondents. No. 44588. The Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc. April 21, 1977. *474 Inslee, Best, Chapin & Doezie, P.S., by Evan E. Inslee and Michael M. Fleming, for appellant. Lane, Powell, Moss & Miller and Robert W. Thomas, for respondents. UTTER, J. Neil H. Twelker, appellant, brought suit against L. Keith Bestwick and his employer, Shannon & Wilson, Inc., respondents herein, alleging defamation of his professional reputation. Respondents moved for a summary judgment of dismissal which was granted by the trial court. The issue presented on appeal is whether the defense of either absolute or qualified privilege has been established by respondents as a matter of law. We hold neither defense has been established and reverse the judgment of dismissal. Appellant is a soils engineer and sole proprietor of Neil Twelker & Associates, a firm involved in soils investigation and consultation for engineering projects. L. Keith Bestwick is also a soils engineer and his employer, Shannon & Wilson, Inc., is a competitor in the soils engineering field. Appellant claims he was defamed by virtue of the publication of a letter from respondents directed to United Pacific Insurance Company. The letter (see Appendix) was directed to the cause of a landslide which had taken place in 1973 and which damaged a building completed 2 months earlier. United Pacific insured the general contractor in charge of the construction of that building and appellant prepared the soils report for the project. Apparently concerned with the possible exposure to liability of its insured, United Pacific retained the respondent to investigate the slide and issue a statement of its findings with regard to its cause. A 3-page report prepared pursuant to that request and forwarded to the insurance company contains the statements here alleged to have defamed appellant. The only persons who saw the report until it was turned over to other counsel after appellant was joined in the lawsuit against the contractor, were the insurer's claims personnel *475 and an attorney retained to represent that company's insured, the general contractor. Respondent Bestwick prepared his letter following two inspections of the landslide site and a review of various documents, including the appellant's soil report, which were pertinent to the construction project. Appellant contends the letter contains several specific false statements regarding the contents of the original soil report, and that those statements concerning the report were made with knowledge of or reckless disregard for their falsity. For purposes of its motion for summary judgment, respondent has admitted the challenged statements were in fact false, but contends that he had either a qualified or absolute privilege to make such false statements, which privilege was not abused. Appellant asserts the affidavits and depositions made a part of the record raise factual issues as to abuse of privilege sufficient to withstand a motion for summary judgment. [1] The defense of absolute privilege applies to statements made in the course of judicial proceedings and avoids all liability. Gold Seal Chinchillas, Inc. v. State, 69 Wn.2d 828, 830, 420 P.2d 698 (1966). "A witness is absolutely privileged to publish false and defamatory matter of another in communications preliminary to a proposed judicial proceeding and as a part of a judicial proceeding in which he is testifying, if it has some relation thereto." Restatement of Torts § 588, at 233 (1938). Comment a to that section of the Restatement sets forth the reasons behind the rule: The doctrine of privileged communication is founded on public policy considerations. The prime consideration justifying the application of the defense of absolute privilege to certain occasions is the need of free speech to prevail over the right to preserve one's reputation. Absolute privilege is usually confined to cases in which the public service and administration of justice require complete immunity. Legislatures in debate, judges and attorneys in preparation or trial of cases and executive or military personnel, when within the duties of their offices, are frequently cited examples. In such situations the utterances or publications of such individuals, even though false or malicious, are protected. Gold Seal Chinchillas, Inc. v. State, supra; Mills v. Denny, 245 Iowa 584, 63 N.W.2d 222, 40 A.L.R.2d 933 (1954). The promotion of public welfare by allowing prospective witnesses to discuss their views of a potential lawsuit without fear of suit for defamation is argued here as the basis for extending the doctrine of absolute privilege so as to encompass the situation before us. The reason, however, for granting absolute immunity is not free speech or public welfare alone. In addition, the scope of absolute privilege has traditionally been limited to situations in which authorities have the power to discipline as well as strike from the record statements which exceed the bounds of permissible conduct. Mills v. Denny, supra at 588-89. In Kenny v. Cleary, 47 App. Div.2d 531, 363 N.Y.S.2d 606 (1975), the defense of absolute privilege was raised as to several allegedly defamatory statements made prior to and during the course of a judicial proceeding. The court refused to grant an absolute privilege to statements made before the commencement of judicial proceedings but did allow the defense of qualified privilege as to certain statements, one of which was made by a client to his attorney and the others made by an attorney for a stockholder to other stockholders in the same company. In Middlesex Concrete Prods. & Excavating Corp. v. Carteret Indus. Ass'n, 68 N.J. Super. 85, 91, 172 A.2d 22 (1961), the defendant claimed the defense of absolute privilege to defamatory statements made by him as a consultant to clients who requested an opinion from him in a matter in which a lawsuit had already been filed. The court allowed the claim of absolute privilege and noted that "statements made in judicial or quasi-judicial proceedings and having some relation thereto are absolutely privileged against a suit for defamation." The court concluded that, at page 92: The extraordinary breadth of absolute privilege seems to us to require some compelling public policy justification for its existence. Where a lawsuit has been filed, the court in Middlesex found the need for uninhibited preliminary conferences and reports sufficient to establish such a justification. Respondent has cited no case where absolute privilege has been extended to statements made prior to the initiation of a lawsuit nor has he presented public policy arguments of such a compelling nature as to justify such an extension. In the absence of such arguments we decline to apply the absolute privilege accorded statements made in the course of or preliminary to judicial proceedings to the circumstances of this case. [2] The defense of qualified privilege has been the subject of extensive comment by this court. Owens v. Scott Publishing Co., 46 Wn.2d 666, 674, 284 P.2d 296 (1955). Once the existence of such a conditionally privileged occasion is established by the defendant, the burden of proof to show abuse of the privilege shifts to the plaintiff. Ward v. Painters' Local 300, 41 Wn.2d 859, 252 P.2d 253 (1953). The parties do not dispute the fact that the statements made by respondent in this case are qualifiedly privileged under the law as stated in Owens and the Restatement of Torts § 595. It is appellant's contention, however, that the pleadings, exhibits, affidavits and depositions before the trial judge on motion for summary judgment raise questions of fact as to the abuse of the privilege, sufficient to preclude dismissal of the action at this stage. [3] Summary judgment may be granted in those instances in which there is shown to be no genuine issue as to a material fact and the moving party is found to be entitled to judgment as a matter of law. CR 56(c). The burden of proving, by uncontroverted evidence, the nonexistence of a genuine issue is upon the moving party. Pleadings alone are not sufficient to establish an issue of material fact where, as here, the motion is supported by evidentiary material. In such a situation the adverse party must set forth specific facts showing the existence of a genuine issue for trial. LaPlante v. State, 85 Wn.2d 154, 531 P.2d 299 (1975). Our examination of the record satisfies us that the appellant has met the limited burden of presenting specific facts creating a genuine issue as to the question of whether the respondent Bestwick's statements were made after a fair and impartial investigation or upon reasonable grounds for belief in their truth. The record contains an affidavit by an independent expert in the field of soils engineering, submitted on behalf of the appellant, which states unequivocally that the details which the respondent claimed were omitted from the Twelker report were in fact included. The affidavit further asserts that the limited site investigation *480 conducted by the respondent without performing independent subsurface tests was not sufficient to allow Bestwick to form an opinion as to the sufficiency of the Twelker report. This affidavit raises factual questions as to the fairness and impartiality of respondent's investigation as well as the existence of reasonable grounds for his expressed beliefs. Respondent's qualified privilege could be lost if the finder of fact concluded that the challenged statements were made in the absence of an adequate investigation or reasonable belief in their truth. Owens v. Scott Publishing Co., supra. The aforementioned affidavit, coupled with the other evidence presented to the trial court, created a question of fact as to the abuse of qualified privilege and a genuine issue of fact has been presented by the appellant. We therefore conclude the trial court erred in granting respondents' motion for summary judgment. The judgment is reversed and the case remanded for trial on the merits. WRIGHT, C.J., and ROSELLINI, HAMILTON, STAFFORD, BRACHTENBACH, HOROWITZ, DOLLIVER, and HICKS, JJ., concur.