Opinion ID: 3011783
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Luscombe and Time

Text: The Tuckers set forth 24 theories under which, they assert, it could be found that Belinda Luscombe and Time acted with actual malice in connection with theShakur Booty article of September 15, 1997. Many of these theories are grounded on allegations of poor journalistic practices--e.g., that Luscombe had a pr econceived storyline; that she did not follow Time's editorial guidelines; that she failed to conduct a thorough investigation; and that she copied from other stories but changed their language without a factual basis. As the District Court found, these theories of actual malice are without support in the case law. While we will discuss only a few of these theories below, we have carefully considered and r ejected all of them. The Supreme Court has made clear that even an extreme departure from professional standar ds, without more, will not support a finding of actual malice. See Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton, 491 U.S. 657, 665 (1989). Likewise, a failure to investigate, standing alone, does not constitute actual malice. See St. Anant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. at 730-31; Marcone v. Penthouse Int'l Magazine for Men, 754 F.2d 1072, 1089 (3d Cir. 1985). The Tuckers assert that Luscombe avoided the truth by relying on biased sources while ignoring the Tuckers' news release, which explained the import of their Complaint. Although the Supreme Court has held that purposeful avoidance of the truth may support a claim of actual malice, the evidence here falls short. In Harte-Hanks, the Court held that there was sufficient evidence of actual malice where, among other things, a reporter failed to 15 interview a key witness to events being reported in a story, and the circumstances suggested that this was done for fear that the witnesses' statement might contradict the story the paper was committed to running. See 491 U.S. at 682-83. Likewise, in Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967), the Court found actual malice when the Saturday Evening Post failed to make adequate investigative efforts in the face of notification that the report they were about to print was false. Id. at 169-70. The element present in Harte-Hanks and Butts but lacking here is evidence from which a reasonable jury could infer that Luscombe doubted the veracity of her story. See Harte-Hanks, 491 U.S. at 692. The Tuckers assert that the service of the First Amended Complaint on Time-Warner, Inc., the parent corporation of Time, Inc., which publishes Time magazine and employs Luscombe, should have put Luscombe on notice that the Tuckers did not seek recovery for injury to their sex life. This argument is far-fetched. Time-Warner, Inc., a huge media and entertainment conglomerate, was served because it was one of the original defendants due to its alleged connection with Interscope Records. There is no evidence that Luscombe or anyone else actually involved with the Shakur Booty article was given or r ead the First Amended Complaint, and unlike Fischbein, neither Luscombe nor anyone else employed by Time magazine was named as a defendant in that complaint. The Tuckers have simply adduced no evidence (let alone clear and convincing evidence) that Luscombe or anyone else involved with the Shakur Booty article was aware that the Tuckers did not intend to include injury to their sex life as a component of the loss of consortium claim. We likewise see no merit in the Tuckers' ar gument that Luscombe and Time acted with actual malice because they copied other stories but then changed their language without a factual basis. Although the circumstances under which an article is changed may sometimes be enough to show actual malice, the present case does not fall into that category. This case is readily distinguishable from St. Surin v. Virgin Islands Daily News, Inc., 21 F.3d 1309 (3d Cir. 1994). In St. Surin, a newspaper reporter interviewed an Assistant United States Attorney who confir med that St. 16 Surin was being investigated but refused to comment on whether charges would be brought. An editor, however, changed it to read that the government expected to file charges against St. Surin the following week. Id. at 1318. We held that the evidence, viewed in the light most favorable to St. Surin, showed that the editor was aware of facts showing that her changes to the article in question made it false. See id. In this case, there is no comparable evidence. The Shakur Booty article was clearly derived in large part from previously published articles and did not change the import of those articles in any material way. Moreover , as discussed above, there is no evidence her e from which a reasonable jury could find that Luscombe was on notice that the facts related in her story wer e false. Accordingly, we affirm the District Court's grant of summary judgment in favor of Time and Luscombe.