Opinion ID: 71278
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: the public controversy

Text: 5 Little argues that the controversy surrounding his reasons for leaving the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation was not a public controversy, but merely newsworthy. See Silvester, 839 F.2d at 1494 ([A] public controversy must be more than merely newsworthy.). If the controversy will affect people who do not directly participate in it, the controversy is more than merely newsworthy and is of legitimate public concern. Id. at 1495. In short, ... [i]f the issue was being debated publicly and if it had foreseeable and substantial ramifications for nonparticipants, it was a public controversy. Id. The public controversy must have preexisted the alleged defamation. Id. 6 The record demonstrates that there was a preexisting public controversy surrounding both: 1) the leadership of the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation generally, and 2) Little's sudden unexplained departure specifically. The decision to build the $60 million convention center had been the subject of extensive public debate. The $1.37 million contract between the City of Mobile and the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation to provide sales and marketing services and to attract conventions to Mobile was a matter public controversy. 7 The problem with leadership of the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation was a preexisting public controversy as well. The previous president had been forced out five months earlier, receiving a good deal of coverage in the local media. To determine whether a controversy indeed existed ... [t]he court can see if the press was covering the debate, reporting what people were saying and uncovering facts and theories to help the public formulate some judgment. Waldbaum, 627 F.2d at 1297. Little's hiring was covered by the local media. He attended a Media Appreciation Night on May 7. Little was described as the best person possible for the job in a press release. His plans for the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation and reactions to Mobile and the Convention Center were quoted extensively in the local media. 8 On May 15, Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation officials issued a press release announcing that Little withdrew his acceptance of the presidency. On May 16, the Press-Register published a front-page story on Little's departure entitled Little Has 'Change of Heart'. Before the allegedly defamatory article was published, a local television news anchor noted that [t]his latest development [Little's departure] raises new concerns about the MCVC's leadership and its future. The television reporter also noted: The question is, was there something so wrong with Mobile or the MCVC that Little would choose unemployment over the high-paying convention job here? 9 On May 19, two reporters asked Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation officials about rumors that Little had been forced to resign because of sexual misconduct. Several people spoke to Breland about these rumors and she received an anonymous letter stating that the Change of Heart story was incorrect. Little's sudden departure from the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation was a public controversy of legitimate public concern. 10 Little contends that his resignation was of no concern to anyone other than himself and had no ramifications for nonparticipants. This is incorrect. The leadership of the Mobile Convention & Visitors Corporation and the success of the $60 million convention center has foreseeable and substantial ramifications for the entire city of Mobile. The success or failure of such an expensive endeavor will have a substantial impact on the City of Mobile's tax base.