Opinion ID: 393752
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: qualified privilege of individual defendants

Text: 16 Because the district court concluded that the entire action was barred by the eleventh amendment, it did not reach the question of privilege. Both the parties raised this issue in the district court, however, and have fully briefed it on appeal. The record is adequate to determine as a matter of law that Dickinson and Shapiro were privileged to publish the statements contained in the law review casenote. 17 Since at least 1796 in the English case of Curry v. Walter, 126 Eng.Rep. 1046 (C.P. 1796), the common law has recognized a privilege of fair report of judicial proceedings. The rule is expressed in the current Restatement of Torts as follows: 18 § 611. Report of Official Proceeding or Public Meeting. The publication of defamatory matter concerning another in a report of an official action or proceeding or of a meeting open to the public that deals with a matter of public concern is privileged if the report is accurate and complete or a fair abridgement of the occurrence reported. 19 Restatement (Second) of Torts § 611 (1977). 20 Although the constitutional basis for this privilege is open to debate, 6 we are confident that an Arizona court would follow the Restatement in this instance. In the past Arizona Courts have relied on the Restatement to fashion appropriate rules in defamation cases. Drummond v. Stahl, 127 Ariz. 122, 618 P.2d 616, 619 (App.1980), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 101 S.Ct. 1484, 67 L.Ed.2d 616 (1981) (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 587 providing for absolute privilege for defamatory material contained in pleadings); Peagler v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., 114 Ariz. 309, 560 P.2d 1216, 1222 (1977) (Restatement (Second) of Torts § 580B). Arizona courts have also recognized the absolute privilege accorded to judicial, legislative, and executive functions, Ross v. Duke, 116 Ariz. 298, 569 P.2d 240, 243 (App.1976), and have emphasized that publications about matters of public interest and concern are to be accorded wide latitude .... Phoenix Newspapers, Inc. v. Church, 103 Ariz. 582, 447 P.2d 840, 849 (1968), cert. denied, 425 U.S. 908, 96 S.Ct. 1502, 47 L.Ed.2d 759 (1976). Furthermore, this case presents none of the troublesome questions concerning republication of defamatory statements contained in documents filed with a court by private parties, or information contained in other government reports. See Porter v. Guam Publications, Inc., 643 F.2d 615, 617-18 (9th Cir. 1981) (police bulletin). A published opinion by a state's highest court is at the core of the fair report privilege. 21 The privilege can be lost if the report of the judicial proceedings is inaccurate. In this case, the report contained in the law review casenote is not only accurate, the bulk of it is a verbatim republication of language from the Arizona Supreme Court's opinion. 7 As a result, the decision of the district court dismissing Ronwin's case against the individual defendants is affirmed. For the reasons stated in part I of this opinion, the dismissal of the Board of Regents is also affirmed. 22 AFFIRMED.