Court Opinion

ID: 9638511
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 15:45:53.906591+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:10:07.369164
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent. After first acknowledging that it is for the trial court to decide whether the words used are reasonably capable of a defamatory meaning, the majority substitutes its opinion for that of the trial judge and holds that as a matter of law they are not.
The words “took” and “relieved” are perhaps the two most important words used in the statement. Common synonyms for “take,” the present tense of “took,” are “cheat, bilk, ... defraud, ... flimflam, gyp.” Webster’s Collegiate Thesaurus 815 (1976). Synonyms of “relieve” include “rob, knock off, knock over, loot, plunder, ransack, rifle, stick up.” Id. at 666. Whether the jury interpreted these words in this way is irrelevant, but it clearly establishes the ambiguous nature of the statement without considering the surrounding circumstances.
Having determined the statement to be ambiguous or of doubtful import “it is the duty of the court to give the jury a definition of what is a libel, and leave it for the jury to say whether the offense has been proved.” Cotulla v. Kerr, 74 Tex. 89, 11 S.W. 1058, 1059 (1889). That is exactly what was done by the trial court and it is noteworthy that a unanimous jury found the statement to be libelous. Additionally, Yust and Yuna interpreted the statement as defamatory. Yet, the majority dismisses Yust and Yuna’s reactions as “not typical of the meaning an ordinary reader would impute to the statement.” Apparently, the majority feels that Yust, Yuna, the trial judge, twelve jurors, one court of appeals justice and three supreme court justices do not represent the “ordinary reader” while two court of appeals justices and six supreme court justices are “ordinary readers.”
By mere insertion of the words “as a matter of law,” the majority of this Court has substituted its judgment, regarding the threshold determination concerning the ambiguity of the statement, for that of the trial court judge. Moreover, the majority has substituted its finding for that of the jury simply because it would have reached a different conclusion. I find no authority for either of these actions by the majority. The record contains evidence to support the trial judge’s finding and the jury findings. Accordingly, I would affirm the judgment of the trial court.
RAY and MAUZY, JJ., join in this dissenting opinion.