Opinion ID: 1188714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: abuse of privilege

Text: Even assuming all of the publications were privileged, including those based on interviews with the deputy prosecutor and DSHS investigator, Mark argues (1) that respondents failed to make a reasonable effort to verify their facts by independently investigating the truth of the statements and (2) that their failure to do so was an abuse of the conditional privilege. Moreover, he contends that abuse of the privilege is a question of fact which should have been decided by a jury. In Mark v. KING Broadcasting Co., 27 Wn. App. 344, 352, 618 P.2d 512 (1980), the Court of Appeals rejected this claim: The record here is without any evidence or inference that the three news reports were broadcast without reasonable grounds for belief in the truth of their content.... Under the circumstances, the television station was not under an obligation to independently investigate the validity of criminal charges made by the prosecutor ... Such an obligation would constitute a serious impediment to the dissemination of news and information guaranteed by the First and Fourteenth Amendments. See Tilton v. Cowles Publishing Co., 76 Wn.2d 707, 723, 459 P.2d 8 (1969), cert. denied, 399 U.S. 927, 26 L.Ed.2d 792, 90 S.Ct. 2238 (1970); Mellor v. Scott Publishing Co., 10 Wn. App. 645, 660, 519 P.2d 1010 (1974). [5] Under the rules established by this court in Gem Trading Co. v. Cudahy Corp., 92 Wn.2d 956, 603 P.2d 828 (1979), the plaintiff has the burden of proving abuse, and proof of falsity alone cannot overcome the privilege. Instead, the plaintiff must prove by affidavit or otherwise that the statement was published without fair and impartial investigation or without reasonable grounds for belief in its truth. (Footnote omitted.) Gem Trading Co., at 962. [5] [6] As to all statements attributed to the court documents, however, the press is not required to independently verify the allegations contained therein. Tilton v. Cowles Publishing Co., 76 Wn.2d 707, 722-23, 459 P.2d 8 (1969), cert. denied, 399 U.S. 927, 26 L.Ed.2d 792, 90 S.Ct. 2238 (1970). Mark has failed to show that respondents knew or should have known that the statements in the official papers were false. Since we do not decide on this occasion whether a conditional privilege attaches to statements made by the deputy prosecutor, no question of abuse can yet arise as to publication of those statements.