Court Opinion

ID: 9633228
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 11:38:53.097823+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:08:31.058022
License: Public Domain

Rosellini, J.
(concurring in part; dissenting in part) — I concur with the majority that at the summary judgment stage of a libel action, the plaintiff has to offer evidence of sufficient quantum to establish a prima facie case, and that the offered evidence can be equated with the standard or test of “convincing clarity” to successfully resist a summary judgment. I dissent to the majority finding that the plaintiff has met this test. The majority admits that the claim for relief for the libel action which concerns a public official in a matter of public interest is actual malice. I am unable to find any offered evidence of malice — that is, any statement made with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.
The record on file which is pertinent consists of an affidavit of James J. McGiffin, owner and publisher of The Daily Record, Inc., and John Ludtka, managing editor of The Daily Record. Both state that the article as published on April 10, 1971, was true and not published with malice toward any individuals therein named including Commissioner Willard Chase. The affidavits are consistent with the *46previous answer filed by the defendant. These sworn statements denying malice and alleging the truth of the referenced article are not controverted at any point in the record by plaintiff other than by plaintiff’s conclusionary statement contained in the original complaint and in the subsequent affidavit. At no time does plaintiff support his conclusionary statement with an itemization of facts necessary to avoid a summary judgment. The court rejected such a method of avoiding summary judgment in the decision of Brown v. Child, 3 Wn. App. 342, 474 P.2d 908 (1970), in pertinent part at page 342:
In answer to defendants’ motion, plaintiffs merely reiterated defendants’ supposed violation of the Securities Act of Washington without any supporting facts. Such an unsupported conclusional statement cannot be considered by a court in a motion for summary judgment. Peninsula Truck Lines, Inc. v. Tooker, 63 Wn.2d 724, 388 P.2d 958 (1964); Henry v. St. Regis Paper Co., 55 Wn.2d 148, 346 P.2d 692 (1959).
A motion for summary judgment is properly granted if there is no genuine issue of fact as to any material element necessary to support a claimed cause of action. Clarkston Community Corp. v. Asotin County Port Dist., 3 Wn. App. 1, 472 P.2d 558 (1970) and Felsman v. Kessler, 2 Wn. App. 493, 468 P.2d 691 (1970). See also Trautman, Motions for Summary Judgment: Their Use and Effect in Washington, 45 Wash. L. Rev. 1 (1970).
After considering the affidavits and depositions offered by both sides, we find no error in the trial court’s decision.
The plaintiff in fact admitted during his deposition that the article as published was truthful, his only grievance being that it left out a portion of his own self-serving statement. Plaintiff candidly admitted the truth of the article on a factual basis from the Attorney General’s demand as outlined in the article during his deposition. Plaintiff additionally had no hesitation in admitting the responsibility of defendant to print the article. Plaintiff further admits to circumstances wherein he read his self-serving statement *47to editor Ludtka over the telephone and did not in fact require Ludtka to read back to him the portion with which he was apparently so concerned.
The plaintiff’s only effort to establish malice was the defendant’s position that the publisher previously evidenced dissatisfaction with the operation and management of the port district and had urged the plaintiff to resign. The plaintiff, in the affidavit, readily admits that the position of the defendant opposing his occupancy of the office of port commissioner is entirely justifiable on philosophical basis without resort to any assumption of malice. The majority finds that the use of the word “repayment” clearly implies an improper receipt and use of public funds and subsequent repayment, and that it was a false statement. The majority does not discuss what evidence of convincing clarity in regard to malice, or a reckless disregard of whether it was false or not, was shown.
The gravamen of a libel action in regard to a public official is not that it is a false statement, but that it must be made with malice or reckless disregard of whether it was false or not. 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).
[E]rroneous statement is inevitable in free debate, and . . . it must be protected if the freedoms of expression are to have the “breathing space” that they “need . . . to survive,” . . .
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra at 271-72.
Injury to official reputation affords no more warrant for repressing speech that would otherwise be free than does factual error.
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, supra at 272.
A rule compelling the critic of official conduct to guarantee the truth of all his factual assertions — and to do so on pain of libel judgments virtually unlimited in amount— leads to a comparable “self-censorship.” Allowance of the defense of truth, with the burden of proving it on the defendant, does not mean that only false speech will be deterred. Even courts accepting this defense as an ade*48quate safeguard have recognized the difficulties of adducing legal proofs that the alleged libel was true in all its factual particulars. See, e.g., Post Publishing Co. v. Hallam, 59 F. 530, 540 (C. A. 6th Cir. 1893); see also Noel, Defamation of Public Officers and Candidates, 49 Col. L. Rev. 875, 892 (1949). Under such a rule, would-be critics of official conduct may be deterred from voicing their criticism, even though it is believed to be true and even though it is in fact true, because of doubt whether it can be proved in court or fear of the expense of having to do so. They tend to make only statements which “steer far wider of the unlawful zone.” Speiser v. Randall, supra, 357 U.S. [513] at 526 [2 L. Ed. 2d 1460, 78 S. Ct. 1332 (1958) ]. The rule thus dampens the vigor and limits the variety of public debate. It is inconsistent with the First and Fourteenth Amendments.
The constitutional guarantees require, we think, a federal rule that prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with “actual malice” — that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.
(Footnote omitted.) 376 U.S. at 279-80.
I find that the plaintiff has failed to present any evidence, supportive of showing malice upon 'the part of the defendant. No evidence was offered to show that the article as it appeared in print was false and published with any knowledge of falsity or any reckless disregard of any falseness.
I would affirm the trial court and the Court of Appeals.
Petition for rehearing denied December 12, 1973.