Opinion ID: 1188714
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the komo-tv broadcasts

Text: Mark complains of five broadcasts made by KOMO-TV. The reports contained some information identical to that in the stories published by The Seattle Times, although there were also some factual dissimilarities. Newscasters quoted the prosecutor as stating that this was the largest case of Medicaid fraud in memory, rather than in this state. The reports also stated that the estimated total fraud was $350,000 (or $300,000 in at least one report), rather than $200,000, and that investigators had found 65 percent of the Medicaid prescriptions billed to the State were invalid, rather than 63 percent as stated in the affidavit. There was no mention of the preliminary nature of the survey. The reports quoted the deputy prosecutor as stating that Mark forged prescriptions for patients that didn't exist. Clerk's Papers, at 451. One broadcast depicted a large stack of dollars blowing away in the wind, and another report stated that Mark's willingness to fill prescriptions without first determining whether the State would pay for the medicine might have provided a motive to cheat the government elsewhere to recover the amounts DSHS refused to pay on legitimate claims. After Mark was sentenced and ordered to pay restitution, KOMO-TV reported: The restitution will be determined in later hearings because the state has never been able to establish how much money Mark actually stole, partially because he destroyed some of the evidence says the prosecutor. Clerk's Papers, at 456. Mark sued Fisher's Blend Station, Inc. (d/b/a KOMO-TV), for defamation. The trial court granted the station's motion for summary judgment and the Court of Appeals affirmed. Mark v. Fisher's Blend Station, 27 Wn. App. 916, 621 P.2d 159 (1980).