Opinion ID: 1656439
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Conditional or Qualified Privilege

Text: In Louisiana, privilege is a defense to a defamation action. Costello, 03-1146 at 15, 864 So.2d at 141. The doctrine of privilege rests upon the notion that sometimes, as a matter of public policy, in order to encourage the free communication of views in certain defined instances, one is justified in communicating defamatory information to others without incurring liability. Toomer v. Breaux, 146 So.2d 723, 725 (La.App. 3 Cir.1962). Privileged communications are divided into two general classes: (1) absolute; and (2) conditional or qualified. Madison v. Bolton, 234 La. 997, 102 So.2d 433, 439 n. 7 (1958). An absolute privilege exists in a limited number of situations, such as statements by judges and legislators in judicial and legislative proceedings. Id. A conditional or qualified privilege arises in a broader number of instances. Id. In fact, there are a variety of situations in which the interest that an individual is seeking to vindicate or to further is regarded as sufficiently important to justify some latitude for making mistakes so that publication of defamatory statements is deemed to be conditionally or qualifiedly privileged. Trentecosta, 96-2388 at 18, 703 So.2d at 563. It is impossible to reduce the scope of a conditional or qualified privilege to any precise formula. Id. Nevertheless, the elements of the conditional privilege have been described as good faith, an interest to be upheld and a statement limited in scope to this purpose, a proper occasion, and publication in the proper manner and to proper parties only. Madison, 102 So.2d at 439 n. 7. The privilege, it has been held, arises from the social necessity of permitting full and unrestricted communication concerning a matter in which the parties have an interest or duty, without inhibiting free communication in such instances by the fear that the communicating party will be held liable in damages if the good faith communication later turns out to be inaccurate. Toomer, 146 So.2d at 725. Early appellate court decisions in Louisiana characterized the conditional or qualified privilege as applying if the communication is made (a) in good faith, (b) on any subject matter in which the person communicating has an interest or in reference to which he has a duty, (c) to a person having a corresponding interest or duty. Toomer, 146 So.2d at 725; Elmer v. Coplin, 485 So.2d 171, 176 (La.App. 2 Cir.), writ denied, 489 So.2d 246 (1986). Under this formulation, which finds its genesis in Madison 's citation of a passage from an encyclopedia, [13] courts typically focused on the requirements of good faith and proper publication to determine in the first instance if the privilege applied. In Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Inc., 93-2512 (La.7/5/94), 639 So.2d 730, we eschewed that approach, holding that the analysis for determining whether a conditional privilege exists involves a two-step process. Smith, 93-2512 at 18, 639 So.2d at 745. [14] First, it must be determined whether the attending circumstances of a communication occasion a qualified privilege. Id. The second step of the analysis is a determination of whether the privilege was abused, which requires that the grounds for abuse  malice or lack of good faith  be examined. Id. While the first step is generally determined by the court as a matter of law, the second step of determining abuse of a conditional privilege or malice is generally a fact question for the jury `[u]nless only one conclusion can be drawn from the evidence.' Id., quoting W. KEETON ET AL., PROSSER & KEETON ON TORTS § 115 at 835 (5th ed.1984). Following this analysis, we note that in the present case, Jack in the Box asserted the affirmative defense of qualified or conditional privilege in answer to the petition filed by Kennedy, alleging that such a privilege obtains when a report of a possible crime is communicated to the proper authorities for investigation. The existence of the privilege, and the lack of evidence of abuse of the privilege (and hence the absence of a factual dispute), was the focus of Jack in the Box's motion for summary judgment. The essence of the qualified or conditional privilege claimed by Jack in the Box in the present case is that its employees were simply communicating suspected wrongful acts to officials authorized to protect the public from such acts, which, if substantiated, would implicate important community interests. The RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 598 describes the public interest privilege as follows: An occasion makes a publication conditionally privileged if the circumstances induce a correct or reasonable belief that (a) there is information that affects a sufficiently important public interest, and (b) the public interest requires the communication of the defamatory matter to a public officer or a private citizen who is authorized or privileged to take action if the defamatory matter is true. Comment (d) to Section 598 states that the privilege is applicable when any recognized interest of the public is in danger, including the interest in the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals. Louisiana courts have similarly recognized that the public has an interest in possible criminal activity being brought to the attention of the proper authorities, and have extended a qualified privilege to remarks made in good faith. Simon v. Variety Wholesalers, Inc., XXXX-XXXX (La.App. 1 Cir. 5/11/01), 788 So.2d 544, writ denied, 01-2371 (La.11/16/01), 802 So.2d 617; Jones v. Wesley, 424 So.2d 1109(La.App. 1 Cir.1982); Crump v. Crump, 393 So.2d 337 (La.App. 1 Cir.1980). The public policy reasons supporting the extension of such a privilege are succinctly stated in Arellano v. Henley, 357 So.2d 846, 849 (La.App. 4 Cir.1978): It would be self-defeating for society to impose civil liability on a citizen for inaccurately reporting criminal conduct with no intent to mislead. If the risks to the citizen are too high, a fertile field for criminal suppression will have disappeared. In other words, the qualified or conditional privilege extended to the communication of alleged wrongful acts to the officials authorized to protect the public from such acts is founded on a strong public policy consideration: vital to our system of justice is that there be the ability to communicate to police officers the alleged wrongful acts of others without fear of civil action for honest mistakes. The privilege clearly applies in the present case, as the employees of Jack in the Box reported circumstances involving a matter affecting the public interest  the possible commission of a crime (counterfeiting or [m]onetary instrument abuse)  to the police, who had a duty to take action should the allegations prove to be true. It is the second step of the privilege analysis  the determination of whether the privilege was abused  on which the resolution of this case ultimately hinges. The practical effect of the assertion of the conditional or qualified privilege is to rebut the plaintiff's (Kennedy's) allegations of malice (or fault, which in this case amounts to negligence) and to place the burden of proof on the plaintiff to establish abuse of the privilege. Smith, 93-2512 at p. 20, 639 So.2d at 746. In order to resolve the motion for summary judgment at issue in this case it is critical to define the circumstances that constitute an abuse of the conditional privilege. Historically, courts in Louisiana ruled that the conditional privilege was defeated by proof that the defamatory statements were made with malice in fact, i.e., that the defendant was actuated by motives of personal spite or ill will, independent of the occasion on which the communication was made. Berot v. Porte, 144 La. 805, 81 So. 323 (1919). At least since the decision of this court in Madison v. Bolton, supra , courts have held that the conditional privilege is defeated by proof that the defamatory statements were not made in good faith, or more precisely, with reasonable grounds for believing the statements to be true. According to the courts, it is [o]nly when lack of such reasonable grounds is found can it be said that the person uttering the statement is actuated by malice or ill will. Elmer, 485 So.2d at 177, citing Ward v. Sears Roebuck & Company, 339 So.2d 1255 (La.App. 1 Cir.1976). See also, Smith, 93-2512 at p. 17, 639 So.2d at 744-745, in which we reviewed Louisiana jurisprudence on the qualified or conditional privilege and noted that, in Louisiana, the most commonly cited ways in which the conditional privilege can be abused are when the defendant's remarks are made with malice or without good faith or for a purpose outside of the scope of the privilege. We affirmed that in this context, good faith is synonymous with without malice, and means having reasonable grounds for believing that the statement is correct. Id., 93-2512 at 23-24, 639 So.2d at 749. A few years subsequent to our decision in Smith v. Our Lady of the Lake Hospital, Inc., supra , we had occasion to once again examine the qualified or conditional privilege in the context of a defamation action. Trentecosta, supra, presented a defamation claim by the owner of a bingo hall against three police officers and the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections seeking damages arising from statements made by one officer to the press that plaintiff was operating an illegal bingo hall which had bilked charities out of thousands of dollars. We granted certiorari in that case primarily to address the question of whether the law enforcement officers enjoyed a qualified privilege in reporting on an investigation and a resulting arrest, and whether they abused the privilege. Trentecosta, 96-2388 at 7, 703 So.2d at 558. In the course of our examination, we noted that the constitutional restraints imposed on the tort of defamation by virtue of the New York Times decision have called into question the continued viability of the conditional or qualified privilege. We explained: [U]nder the jurisprudence engendered by Sullivan and Gertz which requires some defamation plaintiffs to prove actual malice with regard to the falsity of the statement, such proof also proves the lack of any reasonable grounds for belief in the truth of the statement, which is the equivalent of proving the defendant's abuse of any privilege urged as a defense. Arguably, conditional privileges therefore have lost their significance under the current state of the law which requires the offended person to prove the publisher's fault with regard to the falsity of the statement, at least when proof of actual malice is required as an element of the cause of action. Trentecosta, 96-2388 at 7, 703 So.2d at 562-563. Rather than reject the conditional privilege analysis as superfluous in light of the New York Times and Gertz requirements, we instead adopted the approach of the RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS §§ 599-600; we held that, at least insofar as the privilege respecting reports of governmental proceedings and activities is concerned, the privilege is abused if the publisher (a) knows the matter to be false, or (b) acts in reckless disregard as to its truth or falsity. Trentecosta, 96-2388 at 20 n. 16, 703 So.2d at 564 n. 16. In other words, since Trentecosta, mere negligence as to falsity (or lack of reasonable grounds for believing the statement to be true) is no longer sufficient to prove abuse of the conditional privilege. Instead, knowledge or reckless disregard as to falsity is necessary for this purpose. While Trentecosta, in fact, concerned a different privilege (the privilege respecting reports of governmental proceedings and activities) than that asserted in this case, we perceive no reason that its holding should not be extended to the privilege for the communication of alleged wrongful acts to an official authorized to protect the public from such acts. Our reasons for making this determination are as follows. First, adopting the approach of the RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 600 in this instance acknowledges the changes in defamation law that have been wrought by the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment, and adjusts to the evolving law in this area. Since Gertz, it is apparent that there is an inherent conflict between the constitutional fault (negligence or greater) that a plaintiff bears the burden of proving in certain situations and the lack of reasonable grounds for belief in the truth of the statement (basically, negligence as to the truth) which has traditionally formed a basis for abuse of the privilege in Louisiana. If a plaintiff proves the required constitutional fault (negligence or greater) in order to have a cause of action, he has by that action proved the abuse of any conditional privilege that might apply, and rendered the conditional privilege analysis irrelevant. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS, Special Note on Conditional Privileges and the Constitutional Requirement of Fault at 259-260. Nevertheless, privileges continue to serve an important function in our law. A conditional privilege is one of the methods utilized for balancing the interest of the defamed person in the protection of his or her reputation against the interests of the publisher, of third persons, and of the public in having the publications take place. The latter interests are not strong enough under the circumstances to create an absolute privilege but they are of sufficient significance to relax the usual standard of liability. RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 598 cmt. b. Adopting the actual malice standard (knowing falsity or reckless disregard for the truth) of the RESTATEMENT allows courts to continue to balance these competing interests in accordance with the particular facts of each case, and in the process, to retain the hierarchy of specially protected types of speech that we have traditionally recognized. [15] Second, since the decision in New York Times, courts in a growing number of jurisdictions have held that knowing falsity or reckless disregard for the truth on the part of the defendant must be shown to defeat a qualified privilege. Barreca v. Nickolas, 683 N.W.2d 111 (Iowa 2004); Marchesi v. Franchino, 283 Md. 131, 387 A.2d 1129 (1978); Rice v. Hodapp, 919 S.W.2d 240 (Mo.1996); Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. O'Neil, 456 S.W.2d 896 (Tex.1970); Bender v. City of Seattle, 99 Wash.2d 582, 664 P.2d 492 (1983). The shift to this standard is prompted in no small part by the desire to simplify and create consistency between constitutional law and state law definitions of fault and malice as respects the tort of defamation, a goal we endorse herein. [16] Finally, adoption of the knowing falsity or reckless disregard for the truth standard of abuse in this case, which involves a report to law enforcement officers of suspected criminal activity, strikes a necessary and appropriate balance between a person's interest in protecting his or her reputation and the need to encourage individuals to report suspected criminal activity to the proper authorities without fear of being exposed to civil liability for honest mistakes. Unless such protection is extended, fear of being exposed to civil liability could discourage individuals from alerting police to suspicious activity, thereby enabling criminals to escape detection and endangering other potential victims. Individuals who engage in behavior beneficial to society should not be penalized by facing exposure to civil liability for mistakes in judgment attributable to simple negligence. Consistent with our decision in Trentecosta, we hold that knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth, the standard adopted in the RESTATEMENT (SECOND) OF TORTS § 600, is the standard by which abuse of the conditional privilege asserted in this case is to be determined.