Opinion ID: 3064643
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Analysis of Appellants’ Defamation Claim

Text: Appellants seek reversal of the district court’s ruling that Martino’s statements in segment one of the broadcast were protected expression under the First Amendment. The Magistrate Judge explained that the challenged statements could have been referring to any one of three potential lies: “(1) a lie by plaintiffs when they allegedly said they would buy the PWC back; (2) a lie by plaintiffs when they denied saying they would buy the PWC back; and (3) a lie by plaintiffs when they said they had tested the PWC and it ‘worked great.’ ” Appellants argue that Martino’s statements are defamatory because the factual basis that Martino relied on was false and Martino’s interview with Feroglia was devoid of loose, hyperbolic language so that listeners would assume Martino was stating a fact about Appellants. We do not need to resolve which “lie” Martino was referring to in the contested statements because we hold that Martino’s statements are nonactionable opinion, which is protected by the First Amendment.
Statements Was Reasonable [3] A review of the context in which Martino made his comments, “they’re lying to you,” and “Will they admit to us that they l . . . they went back on their word?” demonstrates that these statements were not assertions of fact. The Tom Martino Show is a radio talk show program that contains many of the elements that would reduce the audience’s expectation of learning an objective fact: drama, hyperbolic language, an opinionated and arrogant host, and heated controversy. See Knievel v. ESPN, 393 F.3d 1068, 1075 (9th Cir. 2005) (analyzing the format, structure, the language used, and the expectations that the target audience would have with regard to the type of information that might be found in the context, and noting that such context might be “paramount,” if not “dispositive”). In the troubleshooting segment of the GARDNER v. MARTINO 4837 show in which the allegedly defamatory comments were made, Feroglia, a frustrated consumer, called in to narrate her story on the air. It was clear to all that Martino had no independent knowledge of the complaint at this point.8 [4] Because Martino’s “lying” statements were made in reliance on the facts outlined on air by Feroglia in the minutes preceding his commentary, like in Partington and unlike in Manufactured Home Communities, no reasonable listener could consider Martino’s comments to imply an assertion of objective facts rather than an interpretation of the facts equally available to Martino and to the listener. See Partington, 56 F.3d at 1156. As we stated in Partington, when it is clear that the allegedly defamatory statement is “speculat[ion] on the basis of the limited facts available,” 56 F.3d at 1156, it represents a non-actionable personal interpretation of the facts. See id.; see also Haynes v. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 8 F.3d 1222, 1227 (7th Cir. 1993) (“[I]f it is plain that the speaker is expressing a subjective view, an interpretation, a theory, conjecture, or surmise, rather than claiming to be in possession of objectively verifiable facts, the statement is not actionable.”). [5] Appellants argue, however, that Feroglia’s statements were false and that therefore Martino’s reliance on her facts is unprotected under Flowers. The flaw in Appellants’ argument is that it ignores the specific language in Flowers that protects reliance on the statements of third-parties unless the defendant “knew” that the statements were probably false or “had some obvious reason to doubt their accuracy.” Flowers, 310 F.3d at 1129. In that case, Flowers was a public figure, id. at 1129-1131, but even assuming Appellants are private 8 Appellants have not alleged facts to the contrary. Although The Tom Martino Show apparently pre-selected Feroglia to call into the show, there is no allegation that Martino knew anything about Feroglia’s complaint other than what she told his staff, nor that what she said during the prior process differed from what she said while on the air. 4838 GARDNER v. MARTINO figures, Martino’s reliance on Feroglia’s factual statements would be protected unless he was negligent or unreasonable in doing so. See Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 345 (1974) (holding that where a statement involves a private figure on a matter of public concern, a plaintiff must show that the false connotations were made with some level of fault); Bank of Oregon v. Ind. News, Inc., 693 P.2d 35, 43 (Or. 1985) (holding that “plaintiffs must prove that the false and defamatory statements were made negligently, i.e., without due care to ascertain whether they were true.”). Thus, the analysis does not turn on whether Feroglia’s story was wrong as urged by Appellants but on whether Martino’s reliance on those facts was reasonable. [6] We conclude that the Appellants have not presented substantial evidence to support a prima facie case that Martino’s reliance on Feroglia’s story was unreasonable or negligent. The declarations submitted by the Appellants show that Feroglia’s statements may have been false, but do not show that Martino was negligent or unreasonable in relying on Feroglia’s story, given the nature of talk shows, such as his. At most the declarations show only that Martino’s show did not contact Appellants before putting Feroglia’s call on the air, but such prior investigation is not required in the context of a radio show that takes live calls on the air. Additionally, Appellants were given the opportunity to call in to the program and explain their version of events but chose not to do so. [7] We decline to apply a lesser standard than the “reasonable reliance” standard because it would be unreasonable to require a speaker to determine the actual truth or falsity of every fact the speaker relies on before stating his or her opinion. A lesser standard than the “reasonable reliance” standard, as proposed by Appellants, would chill speech and frustrate the purpose of the First Amendment. GARDNER v. MARTINO 4839
[8] Martino’s “lying” statements were also not sufficiently factual to imply a false factual assertion. Rather, the statements were more like the accusation that Underwager was “perseverating” regarding his professional credentials — an accusation that is a “nonactionable rhetorical hyperbole, a vigorous epithet used by those who considered [the appellant’s] position extremely unreasonable.” Underwager, 69 F.3d at 367 (internal quotation marks omitted). Martino made at least two loose, hyperbolic statements during the broadcast, which were an obvious exaggeration (“Polaris sucks” and “Polaris Industries plus Mt. Hood Polaris equals sucks”), so that it would be understood that the contested statements were the type of obvious exaggeration generally employed on Martino’s program and held to be nonactionable in Underwager, 60 F.3d at 361, not false factual assertions. We do not find that the holdings in Milkovich, 497 U.S. 1, or Manufactured Home Communities, Inc., 554 F.3d 959, are applicable to this case because Martino’s statements do not rise to the same level of criminal accusations that were at issue in those cases. In Milkovich, the defendant published a newspaper opinion article entitled “Maple beat the law with the big lie,” which asserted that the plaintiff, a former high school wrestling coach, committed perjury in a judicial proceeding to cover up his team’s altercation with another high school’s team. Milkovich, 497 U.S. at 4-5. The Supreme Court held that the defendant’s statements were defamatory because the article did not use the “sort of loose, figurative, or hyperbolic language which would negate the impression that the writer was seriously maintaining that [plaintiff] committed the crime of perjury.” Id. at 2. In Manufactured Home Communities, Inc., 544 F.3d 959, defendant county supervisor Diane Jacobs made several comments to the local media alleging that the plaintiff had lied to the Department of Environmental Health about its clean up efforts in response to a sewage spill and also made a claim that the District Attorney was inter4840 GARDNER v. MARTINO ested in following up to determine whether there were civil and/or criminal actions that should be filed against the plaintiff. Id. at 963-64. Martino’s statements are factually distinguishable because he did not accuse Appellants of committing a serious civil and/or criminal violation. [9] In sum, we hold that the statements of which Appellants complain were not assertions of fact.