Opinion ID: 668532
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: incidental issues

Text: Because we uphold the District Court's grant of summary judgment for the Times on Moldea's defamation claim, Moldea's related claim for false light invasion of privacy must also fail. As we noted in Moldea (I), a plaintiff may not avoid the strictures of the burdens of proof associated with defamation by resorting to a claim of false light invasion. Moldea (I), 15 F.3d at 1151 (citing Cohen v. Cowles Media Co., 501 U.S. 663, 670, 111 S.Ct. 2513, 2519, 115 L.Ed.2d 586 (1991); Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 56, 108 S.Ct. 876, 882, 99 L.Ed.2d 41 (1988)). Similarly, our resolution of Moldea's defamation claim requires that we uphold the District Court's denial of permission to amend the Complaint in the instant case. See Moldea v. New York Times Co., 793 F.Supp. 338 (D.D.C.1992). Appellant sought to add four causes of action to his Complaint, based upon the Supreme Court's decision in Cohen v. Cowles Media Co. In light of our resolution of Moldea's libel claim, we agree with the trial court's assessment that the amended Complaint could not withstand a motion to dismiss, and so would be futile. As Cohen itself held, a plaintiff may not use related causes of action to avoid the constitutional requisites of a defamation claim. See Cohen, 501 U.S. at 670, 111 S.Ct. at 2519.