Opinion ID: 782173
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: standard of review

Text: A grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo. Devereaux v. Abbey, 263 F.3d 1070, 1074 (9th Cir.2001) (en banc). This court's review is governed by the same standard used by the trial court under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 56(c). Adcock v. Chrysler Corp., 166 F.3d 1290, 1292 (9th Cir.1999). We must therefore determine, viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmoving party, whether there are any genuine issues of material fact and whether the district court correctly applied the relevant substantive law. Devereaux, 263 F.3d at 1074. Because this case implicates the First Amendment protections of a media defendant in the context of product disparagement, [t]he appropriate summary judgment question is whether a reasonable jury could find, by clear and convincing evidence, that [the plaintiff] has shown actual malice. Kaelin v. Globe Communications Corp., 162 F.3d 1036, 1039 (9th Cir.1998). In answering this question, we must draw all justifiable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, including questions of credibility and of the weight to be accorded particular evidence. Masson v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 501 U.S. 496, 520, 111 S.Ct. 2419, 115 L.Ed.2d 447 (1991). [T]he plaintiff, to survive the defendant's motion, need only present evidence from which a jury might return a verdict in [its] favor. If[the plaintiff] does so, there is a genuine issue of fact that requires a trial. Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 257, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986). The dissent contends that, by applying the well-established summary judgment rules to the actual malice issue on summary judgment, we offend the independent examination standard of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). This argument, however, conflates the summary judgment standard of review with application of the New York Times standard and, as a result, impermissibly weighs the evidence at the summary judgment stage. Under the independent examination rule, we exercise our independent judgment in evaluating the lower court's opinion, rather than granting it any deference. See Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 514, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984). In other words, we review the district court's decision de novo. See Hoffman v. Capital Cities/ABC, Inc., 255 F.3d 1180, 1186 (9th Cir.2001) (We review the district court's finding of actual malice de novo.); Eastwood v. Nat'l Enquirer, Inc., 123 F.3d 1249, 1252 (9th Cir.1997) (First Amendment questions of `constitutional fact' compel us to conduct a de novo review. (internal quotation marks and brackets omitted) (quoting Bose, 466 U.S. at 508 n. 27, 104 S.Ct. 1949)). This does not mean, however, contrary to the dissent's suggestion, that in the process of exercising our independent judgment, we jettison the procedural rules governing summary judgment when reviewing the grant of summary judgment in First Amendment cases. While it is true that we must independently examine the record when reviewing the grant of summary judgment, starting with Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, the Court has been clear that we apply the well-established summary judgment rules to review of the actual malice issue: Consequently, where the New York Times clear and convincing evidence requirement applies, the trial judge's summary judgment inquiry as to whether a genuine issue exists will be whether the evidence presented is such that a jury applying that evidentiary standard could reasonably find for either the plaintiff or the defendant. Thus, where the factual dispute concerns actual malice, clearly a material issue in a New York Times case, the appropriate summary judgment question will be whether the evidence in the record could support a reasonable jury finding either that the plaintiff has shown actual malice by clear and convincing evidence or that the plaintiff has not. Anderson, 477 U.S. at 255-56, 106 S.Ct. 2505. See also Masson, 501 U.S. at 520, 111 S.Ct. 2419 (On summary judgment, we must draw all justifiable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party, including questions of credibility and of the weight to be accorded particular evidence.). And, as we have noted above, our case law also recognizes the application of the normal summary judgment standards to the actual malice issue. See Solano v. Playgirl, Inc., 292 F.3d 1078, 1082, 1087 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, ___ U.S. ___, 123 S.Ct. 557, 154 L.Ed.2d 443 (2002); Kaelin, 162 F.3d at 1039. Thus, contrary to the dissent's suggestion, the independent examination rule of New York Times is consistent with our well-established procedural rules governing review of summary judgment motions on the actual malice issue and does not require us to discard the procedural rules designed to preclude the resolution of disputed factual issues at the summary judgment stage. 10 Thus, although the dissent provides a plausible view of the evidence — that CU acted in good faith as a skeptical consumer watchdog should — it is not our role, at this stage, to take sides in this way. As we discuss below, there is also another plausible view of the summary judgment record — that CU rigged a test to achieve a predetermined result in order to serve its own pecuniary interests. Because a jury would be entitled to believe the latter view of the evidence, Suzuki's case survives summary judgment, even applying the independent examination standard.