Court Opinion

ID: 9585646
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 23:02:33.034561+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:21:47.092645
License: Public Domain

Deen, Presiding Judge,
dissenting.
For the following reasons I respectfully dissent to the majority *699opinion.
In his second enumeration appellant contends that the trial court erred in ruling that the retraction provisions of OCGA § 51-5-11 apply only to printed media and not to electronic media, and that the jury was therefore authorized to award punitive damages if it determined that such were appropriate. The statute reads in pertinent part as follows:
“Admissibility of evidence in libel action concerning correction and retraction; effect thereof on damages.
“(a) In any civil action for libel which charges the publication of an erroneous statement alleged to be libelous, it shall be relevant and competent evidence for either party to prove that the plaintiff requested retraction or omitted to request retraction.
“(b) In any such action, the defendant may allege and give proof of the following matters, as applicable:
“(1) (A) That the matter alleged to have been published and to be libelous was published without malice;
“(B) That the defendant in a regular issue of the newspaper or other publication in question, . . . corrected and retracted the allegedly libelous statement in as conspicuous and public a manner as that in which the alleged libelous statement was published; . . .
“(2) That no request for correction and retraction was made by the plaintiff.
“(c) Upon proof of the facts specified in paragraph (1) or (2) of subsection (b) . . ., the plaintiff shall not be entitled to any punitive damages and the defendant shall be liable only to pay actual damages. The defendant may plead the publication of the correction, retraction, or explanation ... in mitigation of damages.” It is undisputed that the plaintiff in the action below did not request a correction or retraction, and that none was made. It is also undisputed that the statute nowhere expressly mentions defamation by broadcast, but names “newspaper or other publication.”
Georgia law is unclear with respect to the scope of OCGA § 51-5-11. In those few cases in which a question has arisen concerning the relationship between punitive damages and a request vel non for a retraction, Georgia courts have declined to address the issue directly but have disposed of the case on other grounds. See Fuqua Television v. Fleming, 134 Ga. App. 731, 734 (215 SE2d 694) (1975).
Decisions in other jurisdictions differ both as to the legal effect of a failure to demand a retraction, and as to whether statutes requiring a request for retraction as a prerequisite to receiving punitive damages (such as Georgia’s statute) apply equally to printed media and to broadcast media, especially when the statute does not expressly name one specific medium or another. See 50 AmJur2d, Libel & Slander, § 186 et seq.; 13 ALR 794; 84 ALR3d 1249 and annots. However, the *700decisions in a large number of jurisdictions (including Georgia) make clear what is the rationale underlying the requirement that in order to be eligible for punitive damages (or, in some jurisdictions, as a precondition to filing an action), plaintiff must first request a retraction. The principle involved is that the plaintiff should be afforded an opportunity not only to try to right the wrong but also to mitigate his damages. See, e.g., Constitution Pub. Co. v. Way, 94 Ga. 120 (21 SE 139) (1894); Hucko v. Joseph Schlitz Brewing Co., 100 Wis.2d 372 (302 NW2d 68) (1981); Wheeler v. Green, 286 Or. 99 (593 P2d 777) (1979); Werner v. Sou. Calif. Assoc. Newspapers, 35 Cal.2d 121 (216 P2d 825) (1950); Lick v. Owen, 47 Cal. 252 (1874); Hotchkiss v. Oliphant, 2 Hill (NY) 510 (1842). See also 84 ALR3d, Libel & Slander, § 1, pp. 1250, 1266. But see Madison v. Yunker, 589 P2d 126 (Mont.) (1978) (statute requiring that defendant be given opportunity to correct libelous statement held violative of the state constitution on grounds of free speech and free access to court).
In a landmark decision, American Broadcasting &c. v. Simpson, 106 Ga. App. 230 (126 SE2d 873) (1962), the late Judge Eberhardt of this court traced the development of common-law actions for slander and libel and noted, at 237, that recognition of libel as a separate right of action represented the capacity of the common law to respond to historical changes, so as to enable the courts to frame an appropriate remedy for any right which, though new in form, is recognized by the law. The eminent jurist quotes, at 237, from Pavesich v. New England Life Ins. Co., 122 Ga. 190, 193 (50 SE 68) (1904): “ ‘The novelty of the complaint is no objection when an injury recognizable by law is shown to have been inflicted on the plaintiff. In such a case, “although there be no precedent, the common law will judge according to the law of nature and the public good.” ’ ” Judge Eberhardt then analogizes the emergence of defamation by broadcast — or “defamacast,” as he dubs it — to the development of written defamation (libel) as a tort separate from, though derivative of and governed by the same principles as, oral defamation (slander). Rejecting the traditional spoken/written distinction as confusing in cases involving defamation by broadcast, and as in any event only tangentially related to the real issues involved in defamation, Judge Eberhardt observed that “the great body of the case law [in the libel/slander area] will not become obsolete . . . because . . . [essential] principles . . . will continue to apply. A more complete development of the rules dealing with ‘defamacast’ will of necessity await later cases.” American Broadcasting &c. v. Simpson, supra at 240, n. 8.
. It is true that, as the majority points out, the statute in question, OCGA § 51-5-11, expressly mentions only newspapers, and that, as appellee contends, the disjunctive phrase “or other publication” is capable of being construed as referring only to print media. It is also *701true that § 51-5-11 was enacted nine years after the enactment of § 51-5-10 (“Liability for defamatory statements in visual or sound broadcasts; damages”); that “[a]ll statutes are presumed to be enacted by the legislature with full knowledge of the existing condition of the law,” Botts v. Southeastern Pipe-Line Co., 190 Ga. 689, 700 (10 SE2d 375) (1940); and that, on the basis of the principle expressio unius est exclusio alterius, we might conclude that had the legislature intended to make the broadcast media subject to the provisions of § 51-5-11, it would have done so expressly. Compare Chilivis v. Turner Communications Corp., 140 Ga. App. 648 (231 SE2d 425) (1976), where videotapes were held not included in motion picture films, although the writer at page 650 takes exception to this construction, and the Supreme Court reversed in this case on certiorari. In the latter situation the legislature had not acted; here it acted after § 51-5-10 was law.
The courts have traditionally (and properly) been wary of appearing to “legislate.” “Usurpation of the functions of the legislature by the courts is never justified, and will not be tolerated. But this fundamental principle is not upheld by a refusal of the judiciary to discharge to the limit of its authority the functions imposed upon it by the Constitution, upon the excuse that further legislation is necessary.” Hornsby v. Smith, 191 Ga. 491, 500 (13 SE2d 20) (1941). “For every right there shall be a remedy; every court having jurisdiction of the one may, if necessary, frame the other.” OCGA § 9-2-3. As Georgia’s Supreme Court held in Botts, supra at 701, statutes “are to be construed in connection and in harmony with the existing law, and as a part of a general and uniform system of jurisprudence.” (Emphasis supplied.) In the light of the pervasiveness and ever-increasing influence of the broadcast media in today’s world, we view OCGA § 9-2-3 as a mandate to construe § 51-5-11 in compliance with the principle enunciated in Botts, supra, and to frame one of those “rules” dealing with defamacast, the necessity for which Judge Eberhardt predicted in American Broadcasting, supra at 240, n. 8.
Decisions in a number of other jurisdictions have held that the fundamental principles of law governing defamation by newspapers are applicable to defamation by radio and television broadcasts. See, e.g., Werner v. Sou. Calif. Assoc. Newspapers, supra; see also 84 ALR3d, Libel & Slander, § 2 (a), p. 1251 et seq. These decisions comport with Judge Eberhardt’s analysis, supra. Moreover, newspapers, radio and television publications (broadcasts) all now provide editorials. Indeed, the latter two media are required to provide editorials or publication of news favorable to both sides when controversial issues arise, while this is not required of newspapers. This is done because radio and television use the airwaves, which belong collectively to the people. This type of compulsory editorializing, or fairness doctrine, is *702not applicable to newspaper editorializing, as airwaves are not there involved. The point is that radio and television publications or broadcasts now are required under the fairness doctrine to do more editorializing than any other media, particularly as compared to the lack of any requirements on the printed media. The duty to editorialize has a reasonable relationship to the duty of retraction if false information is provided. Miami Herald Pub. Co. v. Tornillo, 418 U. S. 241 (94 SC 2831, 41 LE2d 730) (1974). Compare Brandywine — Main Line Radio v. Fed. Communications Comm., 473 F2d 16, 64 (D.C.Cir. 1972).
Pursuant to this logic, we would hold that the provision of OCGA § 51-5-11 requiring a request for retraction as a condition precedent to recovery of punitive damages applies equally to oral defamation, written defamation, and defamation by broadcast. In so holding, we would rely on the words of yet another eminent Georgia jurist, the late Judge Felton: “Such decisions as this do not involve a disregard of statutes, or sound rules of conduct or any constitutional provision . . . [This court’s duty] is not to perpetuate error or to allow our reasoning or conscience to decay or to turn deaf ears to new light and new life.” Brown v. Ga.-Tenn. Coaches, 88 Ga. App. 519, 532 (77 SE2d 24) (1963). As Judge Eberhardt remarked in American Broadcasting, supra at 238, “The genuis of the common law has been its ability to meet the challenges posed by changing circumstances.”
We find singularly unpersuasive appellee’s urging that we maintain the arbitrary, artificial, ambiguous, and misleading distinction between libel (defamation) by broadcast and the more traditional forms of defamation. Particularly inapposite is appellee’s invocation of Art. Ill, Sec. VII, Par. IV of the Georgia Constitution, which reads as follows: “No law shall pass which refers to more than one subject matter or contains matter different from what is expressed in the title thereof.” The history of this paragraph makes it plain that the purpose of inserting such a provision in the constitution was to prevent surreptitious legislation such as that involved in the infamous “Yazoo Fraud,” as well as to prevent the attachment to valid bills of unrelated “riders” that are unlikely to succeed independently. See, e.g., Camp v. MARTA, 229 Ga. 35 (189 SE2d 56) (1972); Kaigler v. Bd. of Commrs. of Roads & Revenue, 174 Ga. 849 (164 SE 193) (1932). The constitutional prohibition requires consistency between the act’s title and its contents and pertains in no way whatsoever to judicial interpretation. See, e.g., Crews v. Cook, 220 Ga. 479 (139 SE2d 490) (1964). Moreover, appellee’s attempt to support his specious argument with a 1914 case confining libel to defamation “expressed by print, writing, pictures, or signs” is totally inappropriate, inasmuch as commercial radio — and a fortiori television — did not exist at that time. See Spence v. Johnson, 142 Ga. 267 (82 SE 646) (1914). Such “reasoning” exemplifies the obdurate resistance to “new light and new life” de*703plored by Judge Felton in Broum, supra.
For the foregoing reasons, I would respectfully dissent.