Opinion ID: 3065611
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Implied Defamation

Text: Price contends the district court erred in dismissing his claims of implied defamation. Independent of the alleged misrepresentations in the Clip, Price claims that the report 12704 PRICE v. STOSSEL implied (1) that he engaged in criminal and/or dishonest conduct; and (2) that he lacks transparency in his Church dealings. [7] California law recognizes that a defamatory statement can be “expressly stated or implied.” Forsher v. Bugliosi, 608 P.2d 716, 721 (Cal. 1980). “If the defendant juxtaposes a series of facts so as to imply a defamatory connection between them, or otherwise creates a defamatory implication, he may be held responsible for the defamatory implication, even though the particular facts are correct.” Weller v. Am. Broad. Co., 283 Cal. Rptr. 644, 652 n.10 (Ct. App. 1991) (quoting Prosser, The Law of Torts § 116 (5th ed. Supp. 1988)) (internal alterations omitted). To state a claim for implied defamation, however, the published statement must reasonably “be understood as implying the alleged defamatory content.” Id. at 651 n.8. This threshold requirement, derived from the common law, is independent of any constitutional requirements that would otherwise protect speech. Id. The district court found that it could not reasonably conclude that the broadcast implied criminal wrongdoing by Price. The district court accurately explained, “[n]owhere in the ABC Broadcasts is there even the slightest indication that Plaintiff is either accused, or guilty, of criminal wrongdoing. In fact, in its only mention of the law, the Report makes clear that religious organizations such as Plaintiff’s are not legally required to provide a financial accounting.” [8] Price contends that the district court erred because John Stossel’s exclamations of “Enough!” and the statement that “Stossel . . . is ‘taking on the case’ ” somehow suggest a “criminal proceeding or something that deserves to be one.” We disagree. The broadcast was intended to be a public exposé of questionable, self-serving conduct on the part of ministers, but there was no direct statement or suggestion that a criminal proceeding had been or should be instituted. The broadcast does suggest people should not continue to give PRICE v. STOSSEL 12705 money, but we agree with the district court that it would be unreasonable to infer allegations of criminal wrongdoing from the statements identified by Price, or elsewhere in the broadcast and teasers. The statement that John Stossel is “taking on the case,” reasonably refers to an investigative television news reporter, not a prosecutor. The statement thus indicates that he is taking on a newsworthy issue, not exposing a crime. Both parties rely on the California Court of Appeal’s decision in Weller for support, but it favors Defendants. In Weller, an antique dealer sued ABC for a broadcast that implied he had sold a stolen candelabra to the de Young Museum. 283 Cal. Rptr. at 647-48. The broadcast at issue in Weller connected the plaintiff to a convicted felon, described the plaintiff as “reportedly” out of town during the criminal investigation, credited a witness who identified the candelabra as stolen, and asserted that the plaintiff refused to disclose the source of the candelabra. Id. at 651. The Court of Appeal determined that this series of facts could reasonably be understood to imply that the plaintiff had dealt in stolen goods. Id. [9] The facts in this case do not approximate those in Weller, as ABC’s broadcast in this case did not discuss any identifiable crime, and in fact stressed the lack of legal constraints on the ministries highlighted in the report. Price cannot meet his burden to show probable success in proving the report fairly implied criminal conduct under California law, and the district court therefore correctly dismissed that implied defamation claim. Price also contends that even if the broadcast did not imply accusations of criminal behavior, it nonetheless implied accusations that Price was dishonest. The district court found that the remaining implications alleged by Price were too vague to constitute actionable defamation. We agree. Cf. Underwager v. Channel 9 Australia, 69 F.3d 361, 367 (9th Cir. 1995). Finally, with respect to Price’s additional contention on appeal that the broadcast implied that he lacks transparency in 12706 PRICE v. STOSSEL his Church dealings, Price cites to references in the Clip and Leonard’s inclusion of Price’s ministry as one of the “bad guys” on Ministry Watch’s “Transparency List.” Because this argument was not developed in the district court, the district court did not expressly decide an implied defamation claim for lack of transparency. We can therefore deem it waived. See Crawford v. Lungren, 96 F.3d 380, 389 n.6 (9th Cir. 1996). Nevertheless, even if we were to consider Price’s transparency claim as presented for the first time on appeal, we would conclude that it should have been dismissed under the anti-SLAPP statute along with the other implied defamation claims. The factual basis for the conclusion that Price’s ministry lacked transparency was shown to viewers, and a speaker who outlines the factual basis for his conclusion is protected by the First Amendment. Gardner v. Martino, 563 F.3d 981, 987 (9th Cir. 2009); Partington v. Bugliosi, 56 F.3d 1147, 115662 (9th Cir. 1995). The report showed footage of a Ministry Watch employee calling an unspecified ministry to ask for disclosure of tax filings, and broadcast Leonard’s explanation that the “bad guys” are those ministries that refuse to accede to the organization’s requests for voluntary disclosure. A reasonable viewer may or may not agree with Leonard that ministries should disclose their financial data whenever a watchdog organization asks them for it. The viewer knows, however, that a ministry’s negative response will land it on the organization’s “bad guys” list and that Price and his Church are on it. The report’s criticism that Price and his Church lack transparency is therefore supported by a disclosed factual basis, and cannot provide grounds for a successful defamation suit. [10] In sum, because it is unlikely that Price could prevail on his implied defamation claims, the district court correctly dismissed them under the anti-SLAPP statute. PRICE v. STOSSEL 12707