Opinion ID: 1129262
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: sullivan standards misconstrued

Text: First, to the extent that the heightened standard of proof came to be applied as a result of state court interpretations of United States Supreme Court decisions, those decisions have been misconstrued. In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 11 L.Ed.2d 686, 84 S.Ct. 710, 95 A.L.R.2d 1412 (1964), the Court held that in defamation cases where the plaintiff is a public official, a prima facie case must be established with evidence of convincing clarity, including a showing of actual malice. Sullivan, at 285-86. This twin standard of actual malice and convincing clarity was later extended to cases where the plaintiff is a public figure. Curtis Pub'g Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 18 L.Ed.2d 1094, 87 S.Ct. 1975 (1967). We adopted these standards of fault and proof for public figure plaintiffs in Grayson v. Curtis Pub'g Co., 72 Wn.2d 999, 436 P.2d 756 (1967). While only the plurality of the United States Supreme Court would have extended this twin standard to comments about private individuals which pertained to matters of general public interest, Rosenbloom v. Metromedia, Inc., 403 U.S. 29, 29 L.Ed.2d 296, 91 S.Ct. 1811 (1971), this state nonetheless adopted the Sullivan standard for such comments because it felt constitutionally bound to follow the Rosenbloom plurality. Miller v. Argus Pub'g Co., 79 Wn.2d 816, 490 P.2d 101 (1971). However, in reconsidering the issue 3 years later, the United States Supreme Court held that the Sullivan standards were not constitutionally mandated when the plaintiff was a private individual; hence, the states were free to provide greater protection to defamed private individuals than to public figures. Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 41 L.Ed.2d 789, 94 S.Ct. 2997 (1974). Once again following the cue from the United States Supreme Court, Washington modified the standard for private person plaintiffs in defamation actions against the media. In Taskett v. KING Broadcasting Co., 86 Wn.2d 439, 546 P.2d 81 (1976), this court overruled Miller. We stated that the Sullivan standard of liability imposes a totally unacceptable burden when applied to private plaintiffs and that, henceforth, such plaintiffs need only show ordinary negligence. Taskett, at 444. Taskett only expressly addressed one aspect of the Sullivan twin standard, that of fault. The substantive evidentiary standard to be applied was left unstated. However, the logic which compelled us to adopt a lesser standard of liability for actions by private plaintiffs strongly suggests that the standard of proof should likewise be lower. To have the nature of the plaintiff determine the standard of liability but have the status of the defendant determine the standard of proof is confusing and inconsistent. Yet this is where our case law currently stands. The higher standard of convincing clarity has occasionally been applied by state courts to suits by private persons even though the case authority applying this standard involved public officials or public figures. The first case applying this standard to a private individual was Sims v. KIRO, Inc., 20 Wn. App. 229, 580 P.2d 642, review denied, 91 Wn.2d 1007 (1978), cert. denied, 441 U.S. 945 (1979). There the court stated that a plaintiff must present evidence of a sufficient quantum to establish a prima facie case with convincing clarity. Sims, at 237. While following Taskett insofar as the standard of fault to be applied, the court applied the Sullivan standard of proof, even though Sims was a private citizen and traditionally entitled to greater protection of his reputation than a public figure. To support its application of the convincing clarity standard rather than that of simple preponderance, the court cited two Washington cases  Chase v. Daily Record, Inc., 83 Wn.2d 37, 515 P.2d 154 (1973) and Exner v. AMA, 12 Wn. App. 215, 529 P.2d 863 (1974). However, both of these cases involved plaintiffs who were public figures for whom the application of the Sullivan standards of fault and proof was constitutionally compelled. The application of this heightened evidentiary standard was challenged by the private plaintiff in Mark v. Seattle Times, 96 Wn.2d 473, 635 P.2d 1081 (1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1124 (1982), but the argument was rejected by this court. We stated then that for policy reasons, rooted in the First Amendment ... an early testing of plaintiff's evidence by a convincing clarity burden continue to be persuasive. Mark, at 487. Chase was again cited as the source for this rule. The last case in this evolution was Dunlap v. Wayne, 105 Wn.2d 529, 716 P.2d 842 (1986). There the court noted for the first time that the cases applying the convincing clarity standard had involved media defendants (although it is equally accurate to say that those cases, with the exception of Sims and Mark, involved plaintiffs who were either public officials or public figures) and that First Amendment concerns at that time supported the special protection that we extended ... Dunlap, at 534. The court suggested that the same First Amendment concerns were not implicated when a nonmedia defendant was being sued for a statement about private affairs; thus, whenever a nonmedia defendant was involved the usual rules governing summary judgment should control, presumably including a simple preponderance of the evidence standard. Dunlap, at 535. This media/nonmedia defendant distinction in defamation actions was reiterated without comment in Guntheroth v. Rodaway, 107 Wn.2d 170, 176, 727 P.2d 982 (1986) and is repeated in the majority opinion in the current case. Thus, the convincing clarity standard of proof came to be applied in libel suits against media defendants as a result of mistaken interpretations of United States Supreme Court decisions.