Case Name: MIAMI HERALD PUBLISHING CO., a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Dorothy M. BRAUTIGAM, as Administratrix of the Estate of George A. Brautigam, Deceased, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1961-03-09
Citations: 127 So. 2d 718
Docket Number: No. 58-409
Parties: MIAMI HERALD PUBLISHING CO., a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Dorothy M. BRAUTIGAM, as Administratrix of the Estate of George A. Brautigam, Deceased, Appellee.
Judges: PEARSON, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 127
Pages: 718–733

Head Matter:
MIAMI HERALD PUBLISHING CO., a Florida corporation, Appellant, v. Dorothy M. BRAUTIGAM, as Administratrix of the Estate of George A. Brautigam, Deceased, Appellee.
No. 58-409.
District Court of Appeal of Florida. Third District.
March 9, 1961.
Rehearing Denied March 23, 1961.
Smathers, Thompson & Dyer, Miami, and Elisha Hanson, Washington, D. C., for appellant.
Paul A. Louis, Bertha L. Freidus, Miami, and Melvin M. Belli, San Francisco, Cal., for appellee.

Opinion:
HORTON, Chief Judge.
The appeal in this case was first lodged in this court. Upon motion of the appellee, and after argument of both counsel, the cause was, on November 24, 1958, ordered transferred to the Supreme Court of Florida. On June 15, 1960, the Supreme Court of Florida, by opinion and judgment, ordered the cause transferred back to this court, where the matter was orally argued on the merits.
Appellant prosecutes this appeal from a final judgment entered upon a jury verdict in an action for libel.
The record discloses that George Brauti-gam filed suit against the appellant newspaper alleging that certain editorial articles, published by the appellant, were defamatory. These articles allegedly criticized Brauti-gam's attempts, in his capacity as State's Attorney, to suppress an interim report of the Dade County Grand Jury for the 1955 Fall Term. The appellant denied the editorials were false or maliciously published but admitted that a demand for retraction had been made and refused. In a separate defense, the appellant alleged that the matters of fact contained in the editorials were true; that the opinions expressed were fair comment, made in good faith, without malice, and were privileged under both the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Florida.
The jury returned a verdict awarding $25,000 compensatory damages and $75,000 punitive damages. During the pendency of appellate proceedings, Brautigam passed away and his wife was substituted as appellee.
This controversy can be more easily understood when visualized against the background of public events which transpired in Dade County during the spring of 1956.. It was during this period that public attention was focused upon the administration of justice in Dade County. It was a "poorly kept secret" and "common gossip" that the Grand Jury was investigating the conduct of certain members of the judiciary and bar. On the morning of April 26, 1956, Brautigam, as State's Attorney, was requested by the G^and Jury to examine its interim report. Upon examination, he advised that the report was in an illegal form and should be redrafted. Later the same day, Brautigam was advised that the Grand Jury was going to file its report in substantially the same form as before. He then appeared before the court when the report was about to be filed and requested the court to withhold filing of the report until he, Brautigam, could file a written motion setting out the reasons why it was invalid and should not be made a part of the public records. This request was granted and the court set the matter for argument on the afternoon of Monday, April 30, 1956.
A written motion to suppress the report was filed by Brautigam and copies distributed to all news media, including the appellant. This motion clearly stated that neither Brautigam nor any member of his staff was involved in the Grand Jury report.
Pursuant to its news coverage of this story, the appellant published the following editorial in its newspaper issue of Saturday, April 28, 1956:
"People Have the Right to Know
"Why Does State Attorney Muzzle The Grand Jury?
"The Action of George A. Brautigam, state attorney, in throwing a road block in front of a hard-working, conscientious Grand Jury, raises two immediate questions :
" 'Is he afraid of something, or of someone ?'
" 'Is he trying to protect someone ?'
"Neither may be the reason, but the State Attorney has invited both questions.
"The Grand Jury is the people's agency of investigation.
"It supplements the work of the State Attorney, who is the people's prosecutor in important cases.
"His office, however, is not above the Grand Jury's attention.
"When the State Attorney and the Grand Jury are in conflict, as in this instance, the people's rights are in jeopardy.
"In asking Judges [sic] Robert L. Floyd of Circuit Court to withhold the jury's report, Brautigam is off the track of his public responsibility. We think the judge should have told him so instead of granting his request.
"As Long as Brautigam stands in the untenable position of asking the court to keep the jury's findings from the people he invites suspicion.
"He can remove it only by reversing his course; By making available to the people, who have the right to know, what the Grand Jury has uncovered.
"As it stands, Brautigam, the man the people elected to represent them, has run out on them.
"Who will speak for the people in Judge Floyd's court Monday ?"
Upon reading this editorial, Brautigam visited the office of appellant's managing editor and voiced his objection to the unfair manner in which his actions were being reported. He requested his side of the story be published.
Thereafter, on Monday, April 30, 1956, the appellant published the following editorial :
"Who Will Represent the Public?
"State Attorney Brautigam Runs Out On The People
"This Afternoon at 2 o'clock, the people's right to know what its own agency, the Grand Jury, is doing will be tested before Judge Robert L. Floyd in Circuit Court.
"Who will represent the people in this outlandish situation in which they have been blocked by court order from being told what their Grand Jury wants to tell them in the interest of law and order.
"State Attorney George Brautigam was permitted by Judge Floyd to withhold release of the jury's report until Brautigam had a chance to review the contents. It was highly unusual, if not unprecedented procedure.
"Brautigam is the people's lawyer through the office that he holds.

"Judge Floyd should take full cognizance of the fact that in seeking even a temporary suppression of the jury's report, Brautigam was not the servant of the people. He ran out on them.
"Judge Floyd should see to it that the people are ably and immediately represented if he feels that his judicial position prevents him from assuring the people in their right to know.
"The Dade County Grand Jury Association should get in touch with Gov. LeRoy Collins, point out that Brautigam turned his back on the people who employ him as well as on his job when he got the court to hold release of the jury's report, and demand his replacement.
"The people of this county will watch with concern and long memories how their rights are safe-guarded by interested officialdom this afternoon."
After reading this editorial in an early edition of the Monday paper, Brautigam, by telegram addressed to the managing editor, demanded a retraction. The appellant refused the demand.
At the hearing on the Grand Jury report, the circuit court overruled Brautigam's motion to suppress and ordered the report spread on the public records. This order was subsequently reversed on appeal and the report ordered expunged by the Supreme Court of Florida. State ex rel. Brautigam v. Interim Report of Grand Jury, Fla.1957, 93 So.2d 99. In May, 1956, Brautigam was defeated in his bid for reelection as State's Attorney.
The appellant contends the judgment deprived it of the right of free speech and fair comment guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, as well as Section XIII of the Declaration of Rights of the Florida Constitution, F.S.A.
In the United States and this state, every citizen is guaranteed the right of fair expression. This right includes freedom of speech and of the press. However, both the citizen and the newspaper are held to the same liability for the abuse of these rights. Freedom of speech and freedom of the press do not carry with them freedom from responsibility in the misuse of those rights. See Ross v. Gore, Fla.1950, 48 So.2d 412; Pennekamp v. State of Florida, 328 U.S. 331, 66 S.Ct. 1029, 90 L.Ed. 1295.
In contrast to the right of free speech, the law of libel exists as limitation on the right of every citizen to write freely. It has long been established that the guarantees of free speech and press do not render the publisher of lewd and obscene mate rials, profane statements or defamatory utterances immune. See Chaplinsky v. State of New Hampshire, 315 U.S. 568, 62 S.Ct. 766, 86 L.Ed. 1031; Layne v. Tribune Co., 108 Fla. 177, 146 So. 234, 86 A.L.R. 466. The difficulty in construing' these constitutional guarantees arises when the right of free expression collides with an individual's right to the protection of his good name. These conflicts defy precise analysis. However, it is sufficient for this discussion to say that the rights of free speech and press were designed primarily to prevent interference by the government with a man's speech or writing but not to obviate his responsibility for what has been published.
The reported decisions of this state, as well as others, clearly establish that a publication is libelous, per se; that is, actionable, per se; without a showing of special damage, if it imputes to another (a) a criminal offense amounting to a felony; or (b) a presently existing venereal or other loathsome and communicable disease; or (c) conduct, characteristics, or a condition incompatible with the proper exercise of his lawful business, trade, profession or office; or (d) the other being a woman, acts of unchastity. Teare v. Local Union No. 295, Fla.1957, 98 So.2d 79.
The principle defenses to an action upon a publication, libelous, per se, are consent, justification and privilege. The defense of privilege has been by some subdivided into three distinct classifications, i. e., (1) absolute privilege; (2) qualified privilege; and (3) fair comment. See 3 Restatement, Torts, Chap. 25. Others classify the defense of fair comment as merely another aspect of the defense of qualified privilege. See Prosser, Torts, 2d Ed., § 95, p. 607. Cf. Jones v. Townsend's Administratrix, 21 Fla. 431; and Montgomery v. Knox, 23 Fla. 595, 3 So. 211; with State ex rel. Arnold v. Chase, 94 Fla. 1071, 114 So. 856 and White v. Fletcher, Fla.1956, 90 So.2d 129. 3 Restatement, Torts, § 606, p. 275, defines privileged criticism (fair comment) thusly:
Ҥ 606. General Principle.
"(1) Criticism of so much of another's activities as are matters of public concern is privileged if the criticism, although defamatory,
"(a) is upon,
(i) a true or privileged statement of fact, or
(ii) upon facts otherwise known or available to the recipient as a member of the public, and
"(b) represents the actual opinion of the critic, and
"(c) is not made solely for the purpose of causing harm to the other.
"(2) Criticism of the private conduct or character of another who is engaged in activities of public concern, in so far as his private conduct or character affects his public conduct, is privileged, if the criticism, although defamatory, complies with the requirements of Clauses (a), (b) and (c) of Subsection (1) and, in addition, is one which a man of reasonable intelligence and judgment might make."
Newell, Slander and Libel, p. 516, says:
"Every person has a right to comment on matters of public interest and general concern, provided he does so fairly and with an honest purpose. Such comments are not libelous, however severe in their terms, unless they are written intemperately and maliciously. Every citizen has full freedom of speech on such subjects, but he must not abuse it. The general rule to be adhered to in criticising or commenting upon matters of public interest is to confine the comments to the matter itself, and not to descend to personal attacks on private character or imputations of unworthy motives."
The press, while guaranteed the right to publish the truth supported by good motives, has no right to publish falsehoods to the injury of others. A high degree of care is required by law to be exercised by newspaper publishers to avoid the commission of wrongs in the publication of false articles or news of a personal nature concerning which the publisher holds himself or his agents out as author and composer. See Layne v. Tribune Co., supra.
The great majority of American courts hold that no comment can be fair if it is based on misstatements of fact. See Noel, "Defamation of Public Officers and Candidates," 49 Colum.L.Rev. 875, 896. We concur in this view and align ourselves with the majority.
The appellant urges that we reverse the trial court and adopt a rule by which corrupt or dishonorable motives may be imputed to others where such imputations are •warranted by the facts. Such a construction of the defense of fair comment has been accepted in England and a minority of American courts. See Gatley, Libel and Slander, 4th Ed., p. 339, and Foley v. Press Pub. Co., 1929, 226 App.Div. 535, 235 N.Y.S. 340. Cf. Rathkopf v. Walker, 190 Misc. 168, 73 N.Y.S.2d 111 and 274 App. Div. 1064, 85 N.Y.S.2d 351.
It is our opinion that the better view supports the holding that the defense does not embrace the right to falsely impute one's motives, want of loyalty or misconduct in office. See State ex rel. Arnold v. Chase, supra; Jones v. Townsend's Administratrix, supra; and McClellan v. L'Engle, 74 Fla. 581, 77 So. 270. To excuse such an attack, the critic must show the truth of what he has uttered. This, of course, does not include those instances described in Rathkopf v. Walker, supra [190 Misc. 168, 73 N.Y.S.2d 117], as "mere exaggeration, slight irony, or wit, or all those delightful touches of style which go to make an article readable, do not push beyond the limitation of fair comment. Facts do not cease to be facts because they are mixed with the fair and expectant comment of the story teller, who adds to the recital a little touch by his piquant pen."
The appellant contends that the trial judge erroneously failed to instruct the jury that the burden of proof was upon Brautigam to show the falsity of the editorials and the newspaper's actual malice in the publication thereof. The trial judge did instruct the jury that the defense of truth, plus good motives and fair comment, are affirmative defenses as to which the defendant has the burden of proof. He further charged the jury, as a matter of law, that the editorials were matters of public interest.
As to the defense of fair comment, the jury was instructed that if it should find the editorials met the test of fair comment, the defendant would have then carried the burden of proof as to this affirmative defense, and in such event, the burden was on the plaintiff to prove the defendant's publication of the editorials was motivated by actual malice.
The trial judge's instructions to the jury upon the burden of proof constitute a correct and fair statement of the law, and the refusal to give appellant's requested instructions on this issue was not error. See Edwards v. Doherty, Fla.1954, 74 So.2d 686. See also White v. Fletcher, supra; Abraham v. Baldwin, 52 Fla. 151, 42 So. 591, 10 L.R.A.,N.S., 1051; Crowell-Collier Publishing Co. v. Caldwell, 5 Cir., 1948, 170 F.2d 941.
The appellant further complains that the court erred in permitting the issue of punitive damages to go to the jury. As stated in Phillips & Sons v. Kilgore, 152 Fla. 578, 12 So.2d 465, 467:
"Punitive or exemplary damages is an amount allowed over and above actual or compensatory damages. Its allowance depends on malice, moral turpitude, wantonness, or the outrageousness of the tort and is awarded as a deterrent to others inclined to commit a like offense. It is in the province of the trial court to determine as a matter of law whether or not there is a basis for punitive damages and instruct the jury accordingly. Whether or not the elements are present to warrant it is for the jury in the light of all the facts of the case."
From our review of the record, we are of the opinion that the trial judge acted within his sound judicial discretion when he submitted this issue to the jury for its consideration.
We have considered the remaining questions presented by the appellant but fail to find any harmful or prejudicial error.
We conclude the evidence presented to the jury was sufficient, if believed, to support the judgment and that it should be affirmed.
Affirmed.
PEARSON, J., concurs.
CARROLL, CHAS., J., dissents.
. Miami Herald Publishing Co. v. Brautigam, Fla.1960, 121 So.2d 431.
. Newspapers are not held to the same degree of care in reproducing outside press dispatches as they are in publishing original items. Absent a showing of any recklessness or carelessness, the mere reproduction by a newspaper of actually false but apparently authentic news dispatches from generally recognized reliable sources, does not, through publication alone, render the publication per se actionable.