Opinion ID: 1616152
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Clear and Convincing Evidence of Actual Malice by ABC

Text: We next turn to the question of whether Chafoulias has established a prima facie claim of defamation by clear and convincing evidence that ABC acted with actual malice. New York Times, 376 U.S. at 279-80, 84 S.Ct. 710; Britton, 470 N.W.2d at 520. Actual malice is a term of art; it means that the defendant acted with knowledge that [the publication] was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. New York Times, 376 U.S. at 279-80, 84 S.Ct. 710; accord Fitzgerald v. Minnesota Chiropractic Ass'n, Inc., 294 N.W.2d 269, 270 (Minn.1980). For example, as the Supreme Court has noted, a statement may have been made with actual malice if it is fabricated by the defendant, is the product of his imagination,    is based wholly on an unverified anonymous telephone call [or if] the publisher's allegations are so inherently improbable that only a reckless man would have put them in circulation. St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 732, 88 S.Ct. 1323, 20 L.Ed.2d 262 (1968). Moreover, actual malice does not mean that the defendant acted with ill will or spite. Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton, 491 U.S. 657, 665-67, 666 n. 7, 109 S.Ct. 2678, 105 L.Ed.2d 562 (1989); Moreno v. Crookston Times Printing Co., 610 N.W.2d 321, 329 (Minn.2000) (noting that actual malice has nothing to do with motive or ill will in the publishing of otherwise defamatory statements). Notably, the standard for reckless disregard for truth is a subjective one; reckless disregard does not mean recklessness in the ordinary sense of extreme negligence. Britton, 470 N.W.2d at 524 (citing Diesen v. Hessburg, 455 N.W.2d 446, 464 (Minn.1990)). Instead, reckless disregard requires that a defendant make a statement while subjectively believing that the statement is probably false. Hirman v. Rogers, 257 N.W.2d 563, 566 (Minn.1977) (quoting St. Amant, 390 U.S. at 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323) (internal quotation marks omitted) (Mere errors in judgment are not sufficient to constitute actual malice and a defamatory statement must have been made with an awareness of its probable falsity, as demonstrated by sufficient evidence to permit the conclusion that the defendant in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of his publication.). On review, whether the evidence in the record is sufficient to support a finding of actual malice by clear and convincing evidence is a question of law which this court reviews de novo. See Britton, 470 N.W.2d at 520, 524; Diesen, 455 N.W.2d at 453-54; see also Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union of United States, Inc., 466 U.S. 485, 514, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984) (holding that [a]ppellate judges    must exercise independent judgment and determine whether the record establishes actual malice with convincing clarity). Chafoulias argues that a reasonable jury could find evidence clearly probative of ABC's actual malice because The VIP Floor was edited to give the impression that Chafoulias knew that all five of the former employees were raped. Chafoulias points out that although D.W. admitted in the taped interview with ABC that she never explicitly told Chafoulias about being raped, this admission was not included in the broadcast segment. Additionally, Chafoulias argues that ABC acted with actual malice because ABC failed to verify Peterson's credibility. ABC argues that the record demonstrates that ABC believed that Peterson's statement, including her use of the word rape, was true and corroborated. Although a highly slanted perspective may contribute to a finding of actual malice, such a perspective is not enough by itself to establish actual malice. Stokes v. CBS Inc., 25 F.Supp.2d 992, 1003, 1008 (D.Minn.1998). Furthermore, mere failure to investigate Peterson is not dispositive of actual malice. St. Amant, 390 U.S. at 733, 88 S.Ct. 1323; see also Alioto v. Cowles Communications, Inc., 430 F.Supp. 1363, 1371 (N.D.Cal.1977) (noting that New York Times does not impose liability for failure to verify the accuracy of reports). Again, to meet the actual malice standard, [t]here must be sufficient evidence to permit the conclusion that the defendant in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of his publication. St. Amant, 390 U.S. at 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323. We conclude that there is nothing in the record to evidence an awareness by ABC of the probable falsity of Peterson's statement. Instead, the record supports the conclusion that ABC attempted to verify Peterson's allegations. Page and Ross interviewed each of the federal lawsuit plaintiffs and several other persons. Page and Ross elicited Chafoulias' perspective and included his comments in The VIP Floor. Even if ABC had any reason to doubt Peterson's veracity, the undisputed facts show that Page and Ross undertook an independent investigation to substantiate Peterson's statement. We agree with the district court and the court of appeals that the record does not contain clear and convincing evidence of ABC's actual malice, and thus we affirm the grant of summary judgment to ABC.