Title: Jenkins v. Liberty Newspapers Ltd.
Citation: 971 P.2d 1089
Docket Number: 21114
State: Hawaii
Issuer: Hawaii Supreme Court
Date: January 20, 1999

971 P.2d 1089 (1999) 89 Hawai`i 254 Brian R. JENKINS, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. LIBERTY NEWSPAPERS LIMITED PARTNERSHIP, dba Honolulu Star Bulletin, Phillips Media Services, Inc., and Rick Daysog, Defendants-Appellees No. 21114. Supreme Court of Hawai`i. January 20, 1999. *1090 John S. Edmunds, Ronald J. Verga, and Wesley D. Shimazu (of Edmunds Maki Verga &amp; Thorn), on the briefs, Honolulu, for plaintiff-appellant Brian R. Jenkins. Margaret Jenkins Leong, David J. Dezzani, and Kathleen Kelly (of Goodsill, Anderson, Quinn &amp; Stifel), on the briefs, Honolulu, for defendants-appellees Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, dba Honolulu Star Bulletin, Phillips Media Services, Inc. and Rick Daysog. MOON, C.J., KLEIN, LEVINSON, NAKAYAMA, AND RAMIL, JJ. Opinion of the Court by LEVINSON, J. This case arises from the publication of a news article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, in which the plaintiff-appellant Brian Jenkins (hereinafter, "Brian" or "Jenkins") was mistakenly identified as the target of an investigation by the State of Hawai`i Insurance Commissioner. Jenkins appeals from (1) the circuit court's judgment as to all parties and (2) its orders granting the motions of the defendants-appellees Liberty Newspapers Limited Partnership, dba Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Phillips Media Services, Inc., and Rick Daysog (collectively, Liberty News) (a) for summary judgment on Jenkins's claim of negligence (Count I) and (b) for summary judgment on Jenkins's claims for actual malice and punitive damages (Counts II and III). On appeal, Jenkins argues that the circuit court erred: (1) in granting summary judgment as to Counts II and III because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether Liberty News (a) had a high degree of awareness of the falsity of its published statements, (b) exhibited "reckless disregard" for the truth of its published statements, and (c) demonstrated "actual malice" by failing to notify the Associated Press of its error or publish a retraction in time to prevent republication by other newspapers that received the story from the wire service; (2) in granting summary judgment as to Count I because there were genuine issues of material fact as to whether Jenkins had suffered "actual injury" as a result of the false statement published by Liberty News; and (3) in entering judgment in favor of Liberty News, inasmuch as the underlying orders granting the motions for summary judgment were erroneous. We affirm the judgment and orders appealed from. On May 24, 1995, the Hawai`i State Insurance Commissioner, Wayne Metcalf, filed an Ex Parte Petition for Seizure Order (the petition) against J.D. Jenkins &amp; Company, Inc. (J.D. Jenkins), a Maui-based insurance agency. The petition and its supporting documents alleged a deficit in J.D. Jenkins' customer accounts and financial improprieties by the company's principals. It expressly requested that "the court order all court records pertaining to, or a part of, these proceedings be kept confidential as, and to the extent, provided by [Hawai`i Revised Statutes (HRS)] § 431:15-203 [ (1993) ]."[1]*1091 Nevertheless, through inadvertence, the petition was placed in the public access bin at the first circuit court. Daysog, a reporter for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, obtained the petition from the public access bin, and, after soliciting comments from a number of persons identified in the petition, including inter alia, the Department of the Attorney General, Metcalf, and James Stone, J.D. Jenkins' attorney, wrote the following article, which was published in the May 26, 1995 edition of the Star-Bulletin: (Emphasis added.) The petition, in fact, made no allegations of improprieties by Brian, a Maui attorney, who was the son of Margaret Jenkins and the brother of Bill Jenkins, but who had never served as an officer or employee of J.D. Jenkins and whose only connection with the agency was that he had represented it as its attorney in connection with certain matters. Brian, however, was among those contacted by Daysog during his investigation of the story. He had asked Daysog to fax him a copy of the article after its publication. Upon reading the story, Brian was surprised to find himself mentioned in Daysog's story. He immediately called the Star-Bulletin and notified them of the misidentification. He was told by personnel of the newspaper that they "would look into it and get back to [him]." Daysog later signed a declaration explaining how the error arose. Because he was unsure of the correct spelling of the plural form of the word "Jenkins," Daysog decided to avoid the problem by referring to the Jenkins by their first names, Bill and Margaret Jenkins. However, instead of reviewing the petition for the correct first names, he read a letter, which was attached to the petition as an exhibit, written on behalf of the agency to the State Insurance Commissioner and signed by Brian Jenkins as the agency's attorney. Accordingly, Daysog mistakenly substituted the name of Brian Jenkins for that of Bill Jenkins in the article. Upon discovery of the error, the Star-Bulletin published a retraction on Monday, May 29, 1995. However, before the retraction appeared, the story was picked up by the Associated Press and printed in other newspapers, including The Maui News. On July 27, 1995, Brian filed a complaint alleging negligence (Count I), actual malice (Count II), and a claim for punitive damages (Count III). On August 8, 1995, he filed a first amended complaint. On June 26, 1997, Liberty News filed a motion for summary judgment on Jenkins's claims in Counts II and III, arguing that (1) in the defamation context, "actual malice" required either subjective knowledge that the statement made was untrue or reckless disregard of its truth or falsity, (2) the uncontested facts showed that the false statement at issue was the result of an inadvertent error, which was insufficient to prove "actual malice," (3) while the petition was intended to be kept confidential by court personnel, Daysog obtained it lawfully, and, therefore, his knowledge that the court had not intended to release the information contained in it was not relevant to the question of whether he acted with "actual malice," and (4) Liberty News was entitled to summary judgment on Jenkins's claim for punitive damages, because, as a matter of law, punitive damages could not be awarded absent a showing of "actual malice." Jenkins argued in opposition to the motion for summary judgment that Liberty News (1) had evidenced "actual malice" by its failure to correct the erroneous story quickly enough to prevent republication through the wire service, (2) was liable for The Maui News' republication of the story because republication was reasonably foreseeable, and (3) had relied improperly upon the first amendment's protection of publication of lawfully obtainedbut unintentionally releasedmaterial, inasmuch as (a) the statement at issue was not truthful, (b) the statute requiring the information to be kept confidential was aimed at the general public, rather than solely at the news media, and (c) Liberty News had possessed actual knowledge of the confidential nature of the petition. On July 21, 1997, Liberty News filed a second motion for summary judgment on Jenkins's claim for negligence set forth in *1093 Count I, arguing that, inasmuch as Jenkins had produced no evidence of actual injury, but, rather, had alleged only "his `feeling' that the alleged defamation caused him some immeasurable loss of new clients," he had failed to establish a prime facie case of negligence. Jenkins opposed the motion, arguing that the false statement made by Liberty News was per se libelous, inasmuch as it (1) attributed unlawful activity to Jenkins, (2) injured him in his profession, and (3) exposed him to ridicule in the community. On August 18, 1997, the first circuit court entered an order granting Liberty News's motion for summary judgment as to Counts II and III. On October 8, 1997, the court entered an order granting the motion for summary judgment as to Count I. On October 22, 1997, judgment was entered in favor of Liberty News and against Jenkins. This timely appeal followed. In determining whether summary judgment was appropriate in the present matter, in which defamatory falsehood was alleged, the circuit court was required to decide whether "`there [was] a genuine issue of material fact from which a reasonable jury acting reasonably could find actual malice with convincing clarity[.]'" Mehau v. Gannett Pacific Corp., 66 Haw. 133, 145, 658 P.2d 312, 321 (1983) (quoting Nader v. de Toledano, 408 A.2d 31, 50 (D.C.1979), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 1078, 100 S. Ct. 1028, 62 L. Ed. 2d 761 (1980)). "`Other than the higher standard of proof which the plaintiff must carry as a matter of law, the normal summary judgment procedure should be followed in "actual malice" defamation actions.'" Id. (quoting Rodriguez v. Nishiki, 65 Haw. 430, 439, 653 P.2d 1145, 1151 (1982)). State Farm Mut. Auto Ins. Co. v. Murata, 88 Hawai`i 284, 287-88, 965 P.2d 1284, 1287-88 (1998) (quoting Estate of Doe v. Paul Revere Ins. Group, 86 Hawai`i 262, 269-70, 948 P.2d 1103, 1110-11 (1997)) (brackets in original). Jenkins premises his assertion that the record reveals sufficient evidence to have allowed a reasonable juror to find that Liberty News had acted with "actual malice" on three theories: (1) the publication of information from documents that Liberty News *1094 knew were statutorily mandated to have been kept confidential by the court; (2) Liberty News's failure to correct the error quickly enough to prevent republication; and (3) Liberty News's reckless disregard of the truth or falsity of the statement, as evidenced by the use of names derived from a letter attached to the petition, rather than from the petition itself, in order to identify the principals of J.D. Jenkins. None of his arguments are persuasive. In The Florida Star v. B.J.F., 491 U.S. 524, 109 S. Ct. 2603, 105 L. Ed. 2d 443 (1989), the United States Supreme Court reversed a civil judgment, which had been entered against a newspaper that had published the name of a rape victim in violation of "Florida Stat. § 794.03 (1987)[, which made] it unlawful to `print, publish, or broadcast ... in any instrument of mass communication' the name of the victim of a sexual offense," on the ground that such an imposition of civil liability violated the protections afforded by the first amendment to the United States Constitution. Id. at 526, 109 S. Ct. 2603. The Florida Star had obtained the victim's name from a police report that had been erroneously placed in the police department's pressroom. Id. at 527-28, 109 S. Ct. 2603. B.J.F. subsequently sued both the police department and the newspaper, alleging negligent violation of § 794.03. Id. at 528, 109 S. Ct. 2603. Id. at 528-29, 109 S. Ct. 2603. The Florida Star Court reasoned: Id. at 533-36, 109 S. Ct. 2603 (some brackets and ellipsis points in original and some added) (footnote omitted). *1096 In the instant matter, as in Florida Star, the release of the confidential court documents was unauthorized by the government agency involved. However, pursuant to the Florida Star rationale, once the information was, in fact, made available to the public, its publication could not be subject to penalty. Jenkins contends that the instant matter is distinguishable from Florida Star in that (1) the statement in the article at issue here was not truthful, (2) the statute that required the petition to remain confidential was not aimed solely at the news media, and (3) Liberty News had actual notice of the petition's confidential status. However, as the discussion below demonstrates, these distinctions are not sufficient to render Florida Star inapposite here. Jenkins argues that either (1) the Florida Star holding is not applicable to the facts of the instant matter, inasmuch as it is limited to the publication of truthful information that has been lawfully obtained, or (2) the use of Brian Jenkins's name, as referenced in a secondary source, i.e., the letter attached to the petition, rather than the petition itself, was evidence of "reckless disregard" of the truth of the published statements so as to constitute actual malice. We disagree with both arguments. There appears to be no dispute that Liberty News published the article without any subjective awareness of its inaccuracy. In his memorandum in opposition to Liberty News' motion for summary judgment as to his claims of actual malice (Count II) and punitive damages (Count III), Jenkins concedes that the "Defendants learned that the Article was incorrect only one day after it was published...." This court noted in Tagawa v. Maui Publishing Co., Ltd., 50 Haw. 648, 448 P.2d 337 (1968), that "[a]n investigatory failure alone on the part of the publisher, without a high degree of awareness of probable falsity may raise the issue of negligence but not the issue of `actual malice.'" Id. at 652, 448 P.2d at 340 (citing New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 287-88, 84 S. Ct. 710, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1964); Beckley Newspapers Corp. v. Hanks, 389 U.S. 81, 83-85, 88 S. Ct. 197, 19 L. Ed. 2d 248 (1967); Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 153-54, 87 S. Ct. 1975, 18 L. Ed. 2d 1094 (1967); Washington Post Co. v. Keogh, 365 F.2d 965, 966-67 n. 1 (D.C.Cir.1966)). "In other words, mere negligence is not `actual malice.'" Tagawa, 50 Haw. at 653, 448 P.2d at 341. This rule is in accord with the position taken by other jurisdictions. For example, in Glover v. Herald Co., 549 S.W.2d 858 (Mo.1977), the Missouri Supreme Court reversed a trial court's judgment in favor of an alderwoman to whom statements made at a meeting of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen were incorrectly attributed. In Glover, the newspaper writer who composed the story at issue explained his error as follows: Id. at 860. Reciting the United States Supreme Court's observation in New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S. Ct. 710, 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 (1964), that "erroneous statement is inevitable in free debate and... it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the `breathing space' that they `need ... to survive,'" id. at 861, the Glover court held that the fact that the copywriter had made an error in the story, even though he had the correct facts available to him, was insufficient to establish that the defendant newspaper had "`entertained serious doubts as to the truth of [the] publication,'" and, therefore, had acted with the "actual malice" necessary to sustain the judgment against it. Id. at 862 (quoting St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 731, 88 S. Ct. 1323, 20 L. Ed. 2d 262 (1968)). See also Goodrick v. Gannett Co., Inc., 500 F.Supp. *1097 125 (D.Del.1980) (holding that assistant public defender could not recover against newspaper that mistakenly identified his photograph as that of a county jail inmate); Milgroom v. News Group Boston, 412 Mass. 9, 586 N.E.2d 985 (1992) (holding that former state court judge and her lawyer husband could not recover against newspaper publisher and reporter who inaccurately reported the number of days that she was absent from her judicial duties during the two and one-half years prior to her retirement); Richie v. Paramount Pictures Corp., 544 N.W.2d 21 (Minn.1996) (holding that godparents of child who had prevailed in a civil action against the child's parents could not recover for publication of a picture of them with the child that was accompanied by a misidentification of them as the parents). Accordingly, Jenkins's assertion that Liberty News mistakenly reported the information gleaned from the petition and its supporting documents is insufficient to support a finding of "actual malice." Jenkins offers Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 501 U.S. 663, 111 S. Ct. 2513, 115 L. Ed. 2d 586 (1991), in support of his position that, unlike the statute that formed the alleged basis for liability in Florida Star, HRS § 431:15-203, see supra note 1, "is one of general application, [and, therefore,] the Court's holding in Florida Star does not apply" to the instant matter. Jenkins overstates his case. In Cohen, the United States Supreme Court reversed a decision by the Minnesota Supreme Court that a newspaper informant who had been promised anonymity could not pursue a civil action against the newspaper that revealed his identity, because "`in this case[,] enforcement of the promise of confidentiality under a promissory estoppel theory would violate defendants' First Amendment rights.'" Id. at 667 [111 S. Ct. 2513] (quoting Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 457 N.W.2d 199, 205 (Minn.1990)). In deciding that the first amendment did not foreclose the informant's claim for relief, the Cohen court reasoned: Cohen, 501 U.S. at 668-71, 111 S. Ct. 2513 (some citations omitted). The first problem that arises in Jenkins's effort to conform the instant matter to the circumstances underlying the decision of the Cohen Court is that the plain language of HRS § 431:15-203, see supra note 1, does not suggest that any third partywhether a member of the general public or the news mediamay be penalized for disclosure of materials deemed "confidential" pursuant to the statute. Furthermore, "`[l]aws in pari materia, or upon the same subject matter, shall be construed with reference to each other. What is clear in one statute may be called upon in aid to explain what is doubtful in another.' HRS § 1-16 (1993)." Ho v. Leftwich, 88 Hawai`i 251, 257, 965 P.2d 793, 796 (1998) (quoting Korean Buddhist Dae Won Sa Temple v. Sullivan, 87 Hawai`i 217, 229-30, 953 P.2d 1315, 1327-28 (1998)). All statutory references in the enforcement provisions of chapter 431 preceding HRS § 431:15-203 are directed at the insurance industry and the Commissioner. Nothing in the wording of HRS § 431:15-203 may be fairly construed as redirecting its applicability either to the general public or to the news media. Accordingly, it is apparent that the statute establishes a duty governing the conduct of the Commissioner and court personnel who are involved in investigations conducted by the Commissioner and cannot form a basis for the imposition of liability upon third parties who may inadvertently come into possession of material deemed "confidential" pursuant to the statute's terms. Next, Jenkins contends that the present case is distinguishable on its facts from Florida Star because Liberty News had actual notice that the petition was intended to be confidential. This argument is also unpersuasive. *1099 While it is true that the reporter who wrote the article at issue in Florida Star was unaware that publication of the names of sex crime victims was unlawful, in Landmark Communications, Inc. v. Virginia, 435 U.S. 829, 98 S. Ct. 1535, 56 L. Ed. 2d 1 (1978), one of the cases foundational to the Florida Star decision, the United States Supreme Court reversed a conviction entered against a Virginia newspaper that had published the name of a judge, who was the subject of a pending judicial disciplinary proceeding, in violation of a statute that prohibited such disclosure, notwithstanding that the managing editor of the newspaper acknowledged that he was aware that it was a misdemeanor for anyone involved in the proceedings to divulge the identity of judges involved. Id. at 832, 98 S. Ct. 1535. Hence, knowledge that lawfully obtained materials were intended to be kept confidential does not preclude the application of the holding of Florida Star in the instant matter. Finally, Jenkins contends that Liberty News's failure to issue a retraction quickly enough to forestall republication of the story by Associated Press subscribers is evidence of actual malice. Once again, his argument fails. In New York Times v. Sullivan, the United States Supreme Court held that "[t]he Times' failure to retract upon respondent's demand ... is ... not adequate evidence of malice for constitutional purposes." 376 U.S. at 286, 84 S. Ct. 710. Accord Glover, 549 S.W.2d at 861 ("[A]ctual malice is to be measured at the time of publication[.]") (Citing New York Times, 376 U.S. at 286, 84 S. Ct. 710.); Jurkowski v. Crawley, 637 P.2d 56, 62 (Okla.1981) ("It is proof of guilty knowledge prior to publication that demonstrates that the First Amendment immunity does not apply."). Moreover, in the instant matter, Liberty News learned of its error on Saturday. The Star Bulletin does not publish a Sunday edition. A retraction was published in the Monday edition of the newspaper. Thus, even if failure to retract were somehow "adequate evidence of malice for constitutional purposes," Liberty News's publication of a retraction in the first edition of the paper following the discovery of its error cannot be construed as a failure to retract. Jenkins cites Shepard v. Nabb, 84 Md.App. 687, 581 A.2d 839 (Md.Ct.App.1990), and Brown v. First National Bank of Mason City, 193 N.W.2d 547 (Iowa 1972), for the proposition that the "author of defamatory statements is liable for the republication of those statements by a third person when the republication is `the natural and probable consequence of the original act of uttering or publishing the libel or slander.'" However, both of these cases are distinguishable from the instant matter on their facts. In Shepard and Nabb, "actual malice" was never at issue. Under circumstances such as those presented by the instant matter, liability cannot arise purely by virtue of the foreseeability of a statement's republication, inasmuch as, in the absence of actual malice, the heightened "subjective awareness" standard imposed by the first amendment renders the statement non-actionable in the first place. As the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York has aptly noted: Davis v. Costa-Gavras, 580 F. Supp. 1082, 1097 (S.D.N.Y.1984) (citations omitted). See also Davis v. National Broadcasting Co., 320 F. Supp. 1070, 1072 (E.D.La.1970) (granting motion for summary judgment in favor of defendant, who was allegedly liable for republication of statements initially made in television broadcast, in part because television network exercised no control over newspaper's decision to republish); Mitchell v. Superior Court, 37 Cal. 3d 268, 208 Cal.Rptr. *1100 152, 690 P.2d 625, 633 (Cal.1984) (holding that original publisher's liability for republication "would depend upon proof that they acted with actual malice in the original publication of the defamatory matter"). Accordingly, inasmuch as Jenkins has not shown that Liberty News acted with actual malice in its initial publication of the inaccurate statement about him, Liberty News bears no liability for the subsequent republication of its article, over which Jenkins does not even allege that Liberty News had control. Jenkins's final point of error is that the circuit court erred in ruling that he had failed to prove the "actual damages" necessary to sustain his claim of negligence and, therefore, that the circuit court wrongly entered summary judgment in favor of Liberty News with respect to Count I of his complaint. Review of the record reveals that Jenkins's final point of error also fails. In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 94 S. Ct. 2997, 41 L. Ed. 2d 789 (1974), the United States Supreme Court held that Id. at 349-50, 94 S. Ct. 2997. In the instant matter, Jenkins contends that he sustained actual injury from the damage to his professional reputation inflicted by the erroneous allegations leveled in the Liberty News article, as well as from emotional distress. In this connection, he offers the following deposition testimony regarding the injuries he allegedly sustained as a result of the publication of the Liberty News article: While the question of what quantum of evidence of damages is necessary to sustain a defamation action against a motion for summary judgment has not previously been addressed in Hawai`i, on similar facts, the appellate courts of other jurisdictions have affirmed summary judgments based on the absence of proof of any actual harm. For example, in Richie, the Minnesota Supreme Court upheld a trial court's entry of summary judgment against two defamation plaintiffs, based on insufficient evidence of injury, as follows: The trial court, however, found that neither Gerten nor Richie suffered actual damages to his or her respective reputation. Regarding Richie, the trial court stated: With respect to Gerten, the court found: 544 N.W.2d at 26-27 (brackets and asterisks in original). In Salomone v. MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc., 77 A.D.2d 501, 429 N.Y.S.2d 441 (N.Y.App.Div.1980), a New York appellate court reversed a trial court's denial of a defendant's motion for summary judgment, which asserted the absence of any evidence that the plaintiff had suffered actual damage, reasoning as follows: Id. at 442-43. In the matter before us, Jenkins, like the plaintiffs in Richie and Salomone, reports only "three or four" inquiries from acquaintances regarding the newspaper article; he cannot name anyone whom he believes thinks less of him because of the erroneous publication. His deposition testimony is simply too vague to support a finding that he has suffered any actual damage to his reputation. His claim of injury to his business is equally speculative. Shortly after the story was published, Jenkins, of his own volition, left the Maui branch of a Honolulu law firm to form his own firm with another partner from his former firm. He testified that he was able to take with him all of the clients *1104 whom he expected to follow him to his new firm. He admitted during discovery that he could not think of a single client or matter that he had lost as the result of the alleged defamation. He offers only his "feeling" that he would have derived greater net earned income had the story not appeared. Such "evidence" of business losses is not competent under general libel law. A libel plaintiff claiming loss of earnings must adduce admissible evidence that the defamation was a "material element or substantial cause" of actual economic damage. See, e.g., Tosti v. Ayik, 394 Mass. 482, 476 N.E.2d 928, 939 (Mass.1985) (citing cases). Jenkins, however, adduced no competent evidence that his small fledgling law firm would have generated the same or similar net income as he had enjoyed at the Rush Moore law firm if the alleged defamation had not occurred. Accordingly, there being no factual basis, other than speculation, upon which a jury could have found that the alleged defamation was the legal cause of any claimed loss, we hold that the circuit court properly granted Liberty News's motion for summary judgment as to the negligence count of Jenkins's complaint. See Benham v. World Airways, Inc., 432 F.2d 359, 360-61 (9th Cir.1970) ("Although Hawaii recognizes that loss of future profits is an appropriate element of damages..., it also requires that[,] to sustain a claim for such profits, `facts must exist and be shown by the evidence which afford a basis for measuring the plaintiff's loss with reasonable certainty. The damages must be susceptible of ascertainment in some manner other than by mere speculation, conjecture, or surmise.' ... The proof of future profits in this case never rose above the level of hope and conjecture[, because] ..., [i]n part, the assumptions rested on expectations about the conduct of third persons.... The essential determination that the new firm could successfully divert the custom of its competitors is ... unsupported in the record. [The plaintiff's] cheerful prognostications are no more than the factual data upon which they were based. The factual foundation was absent, and the opinions accordingly collapse." (Quoting Ferreira v. Honolulu Star-Bulletin Ltd., 44 Haw. 567, 356 P.2d 651 (1960).)). "[R]ecovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress by one not physically injured is generally permitted only when there is some physical injury to property or a person resulting from the defendant's conduct." Tseu v. Jeyte, 88 Hawai`i 85, 92, 962 P.2d 344, 351 (1998) (quoting Ross v. Stouffer Hotel Co., 76 Hawai`i 454, 465-66, 879 P.2d 1037, 1048-49 (1994)) (internal quotation marks omitted); see also Tabieros v. Clark Equip. Co., 85 Hawai`i 336, 371, 944 P.2d 1279, 1304 (1997) (quoting Ross). Inasmuch as Jenkins has failed to show any damage to a person or property, see supra section III. B.1, he is precluded from recovery based solely on his claim of emotional distress. For the reasons discussed above, the judgment and orders appealed from are affirmed. [1] HRS § 431:15-203 provides: Confidentiality of hearings. In all proceedings and judicial reviews thereof under section 431:15-201 and section 432:15-202, all records of the insurer, other documents, and all files, court records, and papers of the insurance division of the department of commerce and consumer affairs, so far as they pertain to or are part of the record of the proceedings, shall be and remain confidential except as is necessary to obtain compliance therewith, unless the circuit court of the first judicial circuit of this State, after hearing arguments from the parties in chambers, orders otherwise, or unless the insurer requests that the matter be made public. Until the court order, all papers filed with the court shall be confidential.