Opinion ID: 502426
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The False Light Claim

Text: 23 Plaintiffs' complaint alleged that the headline, photograph, and narrative portrayed them in a false light by (1) implying that they consented to Penthouse 's use of the photograph and narrative; (2) failing to state that the girls objected to being separated from boys at recess; (3) implying an association between the plaintiffs and Penthouse and an endorsement by them of Penthouse 's editorial views; and (4) implying that the girls were masculine in nature and wished to dominate and subdue their male schoolmates. 24 The Rhode Island legislature has created a statutory cause of action for portrayal in a false light, as follows: 25 (a) Right to Privacy Created.--It is the policy of this state that every person in this state shall have a right to privacy which shall be defined to include any of the following rights individually: ... 26 (4) The right to be secure from publicity that reasonably 3 places another in a false light before the public; 27 (A) In order to recover for violation of this right, it must be established that: 28 (i) There has been some publication of a false or fictitious fact which implies an association which does not exist; 29 (ii) The association which has been published or implied would be objectionable to the ordinary reasonable man under the circumstances; 30 (B) The fact which was disclosed need not be of any benefit to the discloser. 31 R.I.Gen.Laws Sec. 9-1-28.1(a)(4) (1985 Reenactment). 32 The district court in the instant case concluded that because the headline was constitutionally-protected opinion, it could not possibly be false and thus could not meet the false or fictitious fact requirement of the statute. Although we agree with this characterization, we cannot agree with the district court's conclusion that this warranted dismissing the entire false light claim. Plaintiffs' complaint clearly alleged that not only the headline but also the photograph and narrative portrayed them in a false light. We must therefore consider whether the photograph and the narrative can support a false light claim. 33 In making this determination we are hampered somewhat by the lack of any precedent concerning section 9-1-28.1(a)(4). It was enacted in 1980 and has never been discussed in any reported decision of the Rhode Island courts. In construing the statute, therefore, we tread carefully, because we have little but the statutory language to guide us. We also look for analogies to the Rhode Island law of defamation, for it is widely recognized that claims for defamation and false light have much in common. See W. Prosser, Law of Torts 813 (4th ed. 1971); Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 652E, comment b (1976). As the Fifth Circuit has noted, [f]ederal courts have frequently noted the similarities between the two causes of action and have often carried over elements of state defamation law into their consideration of false-light invasion claims. Braun v. Flynt, 726 F.2d 245, 250, 252 (5th Cir.) (citing cases), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 883, 105 S.Ct. 252, 83 L.Ed.2d 189 (1984). 34 In particular, we note the rule in Rhode Island and elsewhere that the threshold determination of whether a statement is capable of bearing a defamatory meaning is for the court to decide.... Healey v. New England Newspapers Inc., 520 A.2d 147, 150 (R.I.1987) (citing Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 614). This rule is of long standing in Rhode Island; more than ninety years ago, the Rhode Island Supreme Court stated that if the language is not reasonably capable of conveying to the ordinary mind the defamatory meaning alleged in the innuendo, it is the province and duty of the court to so declare, and to deny the right to maintain an action thereon. Reid v. Providence Journal Co., 20 R.I. 120, 122, 37 A. 637, 637 (1897). 35 We think it likely that the Rhode Island courts would apply a similar rule in the false light context: the court should make the threshold determination of whether a statement is capable of implying the objectionable association of which the plaintiff complains. Such a rule would serve the same salutary purposes as it does in the defamation context. Indeed, the Restatement explicitly suggests that some of the same restrictions applicable to defamation claims may also be applicable to false light claims. Restatement (Second) of Torts Sec. 652E, comment e. The drafters note that 36 When the false publicity is also defamatory so that either action can be maintained by the plaintiff, it is arguable that limitations of long standing that have been found desirable for the action of defamation should not be successfully evaded by proceeding upon a different theory of later origin, in the development of which the attention of the courts has not been directed to the limitations. 37 Id. See also Prosser at 813-14; Hill, Defamation and Privacy Under the First Amendment, 76 Colum.L.Rev. 1205, 1274-75 (1976). We note that a number of other courts have concluded that the court should make a threshold determination of whether the statement is capable of portraying the plaintiff in a false light. See Braun v. Flynt, 726 F.2d 245, 253 (5th Cir.) (applying Texas law), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 883, 105 S.Ct. 252, 83 L.Ed.2d 189 (1984); Cibenko v. Worth Publishers, Inc., 510 F.Supp. 761, 766 (D.N.J.1981) (applying New Jersey law); Fogel v. Forbes, Inc., 500 F.Supp. 1081, 1088 (E.D.Pa.1980) (applying Pennsylvania law). 38 We therefore turn to a consideration of whether the photograph and the narrative in the instant case are reasonably capable of portraying plaintiffs in a false light. We note at the outset that a publication is actionable under section 9-1-28.1(a)(4) only if it implies an association. Yet two of plaintiffs' allegations as to why the photograph and narrative were objectionable do not appear to imply any association at all. These allegations are (1) that the article failed to state that the girls objected to being segregated from the boys at recess, and (2) that the article implied that the girls were masculine in nature and wished to dominate and subdue their male schoolmates. Even if these allegations did involve associations within the meaning of the statute, we would conclude as a matter of law that these associations would not be objectionable to the ordinary reasonable man under the circumstances. R.I.Gen.Laws Sec. 9-1-28.1(a)(4)(A)(ii). We therefore confine the remainder of our discussion to plaintiffs' allegations that the article implied that they had consented to publication and endorsed Penthouse 's editorial views. 39 We have no difficulty in concluding that the photograph and narrative were not reasonably capable of implying either consent or endorsement. The article's placement in the Hard Times column, which was clearly described as a compendium of items culled from the nation's press, negated any inference that Penthouse had obtained the photograph or narrative from the plaintiffs. Moreover, any reader who missed the magazine's description of its Hard Times section would have reached the same conclusion after reading the narrative itself, which was clearly labeled as having been taken from a newspaper and submitted by an Oregon reader. Finally, it is worth mentioning that Penthouse 's editor clearly distinguished between his own comment upon the story and the story itself. Not only did he place his comment after the story and its attribution, and in a different typeface, but he expressly attributed the comment to himself. In sum, there was absolutely no room for the implication that Penthouse had in any way dealt with plaintiffs, or they with Penthouse. 4 40 A comparison of two recent Fifth Circuit cases, decided under Texas law, supports this conclusion. In Braun v. Flynt, 726 F.2d 245 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 883, 105 S.Ct. 252, 83 L.Ed.2d 189 (1984), a photograph of and narrative concerning the plaintiff and her amusement park entertainment partner, Ralph, the Diving Pig were published in Chic, which the court described as a glossy, oversized, hard-core men's magazine. Id. at 247. The item appeared in a section of the magazine known as Chic Thrills, a collection of brief vignettes, most of which either concerned sex overtly or were accompanied by a photograph or cartoon of an overtly sexual nature. Id. But nothing in the Chic Thrills section attributed its contents to readers or outside sources. The Fifth Circuit concluded that the evidence supported the jury's finding that the item depicted the plaintiff in a false light, on either a consent-to-publication or an endorsement-of-editorial-views theory. Id. at 253-54 & n. 11. 41 In contrast is the more recent case of Faloona by Fredrickson v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 799 F.2d 1000 (5th Cir.1986), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 107 S.Ct. 1295, 94 L.Ed.2d 151 (1987). In that case, plaintiffs had consented to be photographed in the nude for two books on human sexuality. When Hustler published an excerpt of one book and a review of the other, both accompanied by photographs of plaintiffs, they sued, inter alia, on a false light theory. Id. at 1002-05. The Fifth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of plaintiffs' complaint. After reviewing the context, the court concluded as a matter of law that 42 no reasonable person could consider the photographs as indicating plaintiffs' approval of Hustler, or that they were willing to pose nude for Hustler. It is obvious that the photographs were reproductions from the books being reviewed or excerpted. No tie to Hustler is claimed or suggested. It is this sharp definition of context which distinguishes this case from ... Braun. 43 Id. at 1007. 44 The court in Faloona also distinguished the case before it from Douglass v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 769 F.2d 1128 (7th Cir.1985), cert. denied, 475 U.S. 1094, 106 S.Ct. 1489, 89 L.Ed.2d 892 (1986). In Douglass, Robyn Douglass, an actress, claimed that Hustler had presented her in a false light by publishing nude photographs of her and thereby implying that she had consented to the publication of the photographs. The Seventh Circuit, applying Illinois law, concluded that she had stated a claim for portrayal in a false light: 45 Nothing in the feature itself suggests that the nude photographs of her are appearing without her permission and against her will, and readers might well assume that she had cooperated in the preparation of the feature in order to stimulate interest in her films. Moreover, she had been described in a previous issue of Hustler as a forthcoming Hustler celebrity-exclusive, and in another issue Hustler 's chairman, Larry Flynt, had announced in an editorial column that he does not publish photographs of women without their consent. It is (or so a jury could find) as if Hustler had said, Robyn Douglass is proud to pose nude for Hustler magazine. 46 Douglass, 769 F.2d at 1135. 47 The Faloona court felt that the context in which the photographs were published in Douglass made it distinguishable from Faloona, where the photographs were clearly reproduced from the books being excerpted or reviewed. Faloona, 799 F.2d at 1007. The same is true in the case now before us; the photograph and narrative were clearly identified as having come from a third party rather than plaintiffs themselves. It follows that the article as a whole was not reasonably capable of bearing the implication of objectionable association attributed to it by plaintiffs. The district court therefore acted properly in dismissing the false light claim. 5