Case Title: Sakon v. Pepsico, Inc.

Citation: 553 So. 2d 163

Docket Number: 73258

State: florida

Court: Florida Supreme Court

Date: 1989-11-30T00:00:00Z

Document:
553 So. 2d 163 (1989)
Michael SAKON, Etc., et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants,
v.
PEPSICO, INC., Etc., Defendant-Appellee.
No. 73258.

Supreme Court of Florida.
November 30, 1989.
*164 Michael M. O'Brien and James R. Hooper of O'Brien and Hooper, P.A., Orlando, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Jennings L. Hurt, III and Peter J. Zinaich of Rissman, Weisberg, Barrett & Hurt, P.A., Orlando, for defendant-appellee.
PER CURIAM.
We have jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(6) of the Florida Constitution to answer the following certified question of law from the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit:
Sakon v. Pepsico, Inc., No. 88-3207, unpublished slip op. at 5 (11th Cir. Oct. 27, 1988).
This case originated in the state courts of Florida but was transferred on diversity jurisdiction to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida. The federal district court granted a motion to dismiss with prejudice which was appealed. We accept the Eleventh Circuit's statement of alleged facts:
Sakon, slip op. at 3-4.
Before addressing the certified question, it is necessary to address certain points raised by appellee, Pepsico, Inc. Appellee points out that the federal district court also dismissed the complaint on the ground that the cause of action was barred by the free speech clause of the first amendment to the United States Constitution. In appellee's view, the advertisement at issue is fully protected as an exercise of free speech and no liability may be found unless the advertisement falls into one or more of the seven recognized exceptions: (1) obscene material, Miller v. California, 413 U.S. 15, 93 S. Ct. 2607, 37 L. Ed. 2d 419 *165 (1973); (2) fighting words, Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 62 S. Ct. 766, 86 L. Ed. 1031 (1942); (3) defamation, Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 94 S. Ct. 2997, 41 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1974); (4) invasion of privacy, see Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, 422 U.S. 205, 95 S. Ct. 2268, 45 L. Ed. 2d 125 (1975); (5) disruption of the classroom, see Tinker v. Des Moines Indep. Community School Dist., 393 U.S. 503, 89 S. Ct. 733, 21 L. Ed. 2d 731 (1969); (6) incitement of imminent lawless activity, Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444, 89 S. Ct. 1827, 23 L. Ed. 2d 430 (1969); and (7) solicitation of illegal activity, Pittsburgh Press Co. v. Pittsburgh Comm'n on Human Relations, 413 U.S. 376, 93 S. Ct. 2553, 37 L. Ed. 2d 669 (1973). Appellee argues there is no distinction for first amendment purposes between commercial speech, as here, and other protected forms of speech. In appellee's view, all material broadcast by television is subject to undifferentiated protection as free speech, subject only to the seven exceptions noted above. For the same reasons, appellee urges that this Court should not recognize a cause of action based on an advertisement because to do so will enmesh the courts in a fruitless examination of the content of all television broadcasts, commercial and noncommercial. In support, appellee cites cases where, on the basis of the first amendment, the courts have prohibited liability: Zamora v. Columbia Broadcasting Sys., 480 F. Supp. 199 (S.D. Fla. 1979); Olivia N. v. National Broadcasting Co., 126 Cal. App. 3d 488, 178 Cal. Rptr. 888 (Ct.App.), cert. denied, 458 U.S. 1108, 102 S. Ct. 3487, 73 L. Ed. 2d 1369 (1982); Walt Disney Prods. Inc. v. Shannon, 247 Ga. 402, 276 S.E.2d 580 (1981); and DeFilippo v. National Broadcasting Co., 446 A.2d 1036 (R.I. 1982).[1] Based on the preceding arguments, appellee concludes that this Court should decline to answer the certified question because, in view of the first amendment protection of free speech, the answer to the certified question would not be dispositive of the case.
Appellee's positions concerning the first amendment protection of commercial speech and the inability of courts to distinguish between commercial and noncommercial speech are contrary to controlling case law. Until recently, commercial speech was entirely unprotected by the free speech clause and "business advertising that [did] no more than solicit a commercial transaction [could] be regulated by government on the same terms as any other aspect of the marketplace." Jackson & Jeffries, Commercial Speech: Economic Due Process And The First Amendment, 65 Va.L.Rev. 1, 5 (1979). Recently, however, the Supreme Court has recognized that the first amendment provides a degree of protection to commercial speech. Virginia State Bd. of Pharmacy v. Virginia Citizens Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748, 96 S. Ct. 1817, 48 L. Ed. 2d 346 (1976). Contrary to appellee's positions, commercial speech, such as that at issue here, is clearly differentiated from noncommercial speech and is afforded only a limited measure of protection. The Supreme Court summarized the relevant law in Ohralik v. Ohio State Bar Ass'n, 436 U.S. 447, 455-56, 98 S. Ct. 1912, 1918, 56 L. Ed. 2d 444 (1978):
(Citations and footnote omitted.) Accord Central Hudson Gas & Elec. Corp. v. Public Serv. Comm'n, 447 U.S. 557, 100 S. Ct. 2343, 65 L. Ed. 2d 341 (1980); Friedman v. Rogers, 440 U.S. 1, 99 S. Ct. 887, 59 L. Ed. 2d 100 (1979); First Nat'l Bank v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 98 S. Ct. 1407, 55 L. Ed. 2d 707 (1978); Bates v. State Bar, 433 U.S. 350, 97 S. Ct. 2691, 53 L. Ed. 2d 810 (1977). Contrary to appellee's position, television programs, whether news or entertainment, are easily differentiated using common sense from advertisements which merely solicit a commercial transaction or state information relevant thereto.
In urging that we decline to answer the certified question and ground our answer on the first amendment, appellee has overstated the degree of protection afforded commercial speech. We have addressed appellee's absolutist view of the first amendment in order to reach the certified question of state law. In summary, then, we are not persuaded that the first amendment prohibits the states from recognizing a cause of action for false, deceptive, or misleading advertising.
We nevertheless conclude that under the facts alleged in this case, Pepsico cannot be held legally liable. Pepsico's commercial has done nothing more than portray young people engaged in a sporting activity which can be dangerous if not done by skilled persons under proper conditions. The product being advertised had nothing to do with the activity. The advertisement was not directed toward encouraging others to undertake the sport but only to drink "Mountain Dew." Pepsico breached no duty, and Sakon's accident was not the foreseeable consequence of Pepsico's advertisement.
The logical corollary to recovery in this case would be that advertisers and broadcasters would be subject to liability because children sought to duplicate acts of violence which they saw on television. There would be a total absence of any standard to measure liability. See Zamora v. Columbia Broadcasting Sys., 480 F. Supp. 199 (S.D.Fla. 1979) (rejecting claim that minor plaintiff developed a sociopathic personality by watching violence on television). Relevant to this issue are introductory comments on the subject of proximate cause in 4 F. Harper, F. James & O. Gray, The Law of Torts § 20.4, at 131-32 (2d ed. 1986):
(Footnotes omitted.)
There is no decision in the United States which has imposed liability under facts analogous to those in the instant case. The cases cited by appellant are all Federal Trade Commission (FTC) consent orders. No legal standard of duty is set forth in a consent order, and there is no legal precedent arising from consent orders. Moreover, unlike the instant case, all of the cited FTC cases involved alleged advertising problems which were directly related to the use of the products themselves. The Pepsico commercial cannot be deemed to constitute false, misleading, or deceptive advertising so as to fall within the scope of the Florida laws on deceptive and unfair trade practices.
The shortcomings in appellant's position are best expressed by the order denying liability entered by the federal district judge in this case.
Sakon v. Mountain Dew, No. 86-483-Civ-Orl-18, slip op. at 5-7 (M.D. Fla. March 5, 1987).
We note that the certified question is broadly framed. We qualifiedly answer in the negative based upon the facts here and remand to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit for its disposition of the matter.
It is so ordered.
EHRLICH, C.J., and OVERTON, SHAW, BARKETT, GRIMES and KOGAN, JJ., concur.
McDONALD, J., dissents.
[1]  All of these cases involve suits on the content of noncommercial broadcasts.