Court Opinion

ID: 9679576
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:57:09.49755+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:15.868261
License: Public Domain

POPE, Justice
(dissenting).
I respectfully dissent. John Foster was a public official when the article in question was published and actual malice was an essential element of the libel action. I cannot improve upon these reasons which are expressed by the opinion in the court of civil appeals:
It is undisputed from the record that (a) Foster is the public surveyor of Webb County, (b) such office is an elective office provided for under the laws of this state, (e) Foster’s name has appeared on the public ballot in Webb County on numerous occasions, and he has been elected to such office by the voters of Webb County on numerous occasions, (d) at the time of the alleged libel and for many years before, Foster was the county surveyor of Webb County.
It is also undisputed that Foster, over a period of years, had been employed by Webb County as the consultant engineer on various public projects, including construction of county swimming pools, development of recreational areas, drainage problems in the Del Mar Hills Subdivision, road improvements, jail house improvements, design of a children’s park, and work at a county dam. There is testimony that these projects covered the vast majority of all the major county projects during the last ten years and that Foster was the engineer in charge of such projects. It is clear from the record that Foster was hired by Webb County for these projects and was paid out of public funds for such work.
It is also clear that Foster had taken an active part in the particular activities giving rise to the defamation. The newspaper article in which the alleged libelous statement was made involved the problem of flooding in the Del Mar Hills *821Subdivision, which was a matter of considerable public interest in Laredo and in Webb County, and had resulted in citizen’s complaints and public meetings in Laredo. Such flooding problems had been the subject of a previous article in the Laredo Times which covered a public meeting of the Commissioner’s Court on June 11, 1973, at which time, a private citizen, Mr. Anderson, a resident of the Del Mar Hills Subdivision had complained about the flooding problem. This same citizen had previously complained to the Commissioner’s Court in 1972 about such floods and, as a result of such complaint, Foster was called in by the Commissioner’s Court to investigate and make a study of the drainage problem. Such study was made by Foster and he reported to the Commissioner’s Court in this regard. Foster was paid for such services by Webb County. When Anderson returned to the Commissioner’s Court a second time in June, 1973, Foster was again called by the Commissioner’s Court because of his familiarity with the problem and participated in the public meeting.
It would appear that Foster was not only involved in the particular controversy giving rise to the suit here involved but that his participation and involvement was connected with and arose out of his official duties and services for Webb County, either as a public official of Webb County or as a paid consultant engineer for such county.
In our opinion, Foster clearly falls within the most restrictive definition of a “public official” or a “public figure,” and we hold that he was both a public official and a public figure as those terms are defined by the courts of this state and of the United States. 530 S.W.2d 611, 615-616.