Court Opinion

ID: 9569593
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:15:26.244+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:03:34.240985
License: Public Domain

Justice PLEICONES.
I concur in part and dissent in part. I agree with the majority that the circuit court had jurisdiction to rule on the summary judgment motion. I disagree, however, with the decision to reverse the Court of Appeals’ decision which affirmed the circuit court’s grant of summary judgment to Newspapers.
I find no evidence of actual malice here. Actual malice is not satisfied by a showing of ill will, nor is the recklessness of *503a libel defendant’s conduct “measured by whether a reasonably prudent man would have published, or would have investigated before publishing.” George v. Fabri, 345 S.C. 440, 548 S.E.2d 868 (2001) citing St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323, 20 L.Ed.2d 262 (1968). Petitioner was required to, but did not, produce evidence that the Newspapers “entertained serious doubts as to the truth of’ councilwoman Mims statement. See St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. at 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323. Only where the plaintiff can show “an extreme departure from the standards of investigation and reporting ordinarily adhered to by reasonable publishers” can a public figure plaintiff withstand a motion for summary judgment on the issue of actual malice. Anderson v. Augusta Chronicle, supra. In my view, petitioner did not meet this burden here.
“The actual malice standard is premised on our ‘profound national commitment to the principle that debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and that it may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials.’ ” George v. Fabri, 345 S.C. at 456-457, 548 S.E.2d at 876, citing New York Times v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Here, Newspapers published information about a county official, information given to them by another county official. That petitioner’s name was- not on a list provided by a different county official is not evidence that publishing the story was “an extreme departure from investigative standards” nor was there any evidence that Newspapers in fact harbored serious doubts about councilwoman Mims’ story. Moreover, the reporter’s knowledge of the political enmity between councilwoman Mims and petitioner, combined with her failure to further investigate Mims’ statement before publishing it, is “patently insufficient” to prove actual malice. Elder v. Gaffney Ledger, 341 S.C. 108, 533 S.E.2d 899 (2000). Finally, the gist of the allegedly defamatory story, 'that county employees were seen performing yard work on petitioner’s property, is not particularly inflammatory given that the county had in place a policy permitting this practice.
I would affirm the decision of the Court of Appeals.