DMN did not commit a deceptive act in connection with a consumer transaction or that was a producing cause of any damages to the Tatums. at 122627. There was no evidence DMN committed a false, misleading, or deceptive act listed in 17.46(b), or that the Tatums relied on any complained of act. More than 1,000 people attended Paul's funeral. Newspapers, Inc. v. Matthews, 339 S.W.2d 890, 893 (Tex.1960). Mar. Their traditional grounds were: The column was not of and concerning the Tatums. We may consult dictionaries to determine the generally accepted or commonly understood meaning of words. We are unpersuaded. This argument misses the point. Steve Blow is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. (quoting Bell Publ'g Co. v. Garrett Eng'g Co., 170 S.W.2d 197, 204 (Tex.1943)). Examples of defamation per se include (i) accusing someone of a crime, (ii) accusing someone of having a foul or loathsome disease, (iii) accusing someone of serious sexual misconduct, and (iv) disparaging another's fitness to conduct his or her business or trade. The plaintiff must also prove damages unless the defamatory statements are defamatory per se. Subscribe to Justia's Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was about them? Moreover, a public figure must prove actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. The Tatums sued Julie Hersh in a separate lawsuit. There is also evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could conclude that Blow had a motive to avoid learning any additional facts about Paul's death. Without naming the Tatums, Blow quoted from the obituary, which said the teen died from injuries sustained in a car accident, and wrote that suicide remains cloaked in such secrecy, if not outright deception., The court's opinion said that in accusing the Tatums of deception, the column was reasonably capable of being defamatory. Finally, the Tatums point to their minister's testimony that he called Blow to express his concerns about the column and that Blow's first response was, Did I get my facts right?. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that they did. TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. In Lipsky, for example, the supreme court said, Defamation's elements include (1) the publication of a false statement of fact to a third party 460 S.W.3d at 593 (emphasis added). Slander is an oral defamation. Generally speaking, the column's italicized words quoted above reflect a theme of alleged dishonesty by people, including those who wrote Paul's obituary, who refuse to acknowledge that someone committed suicide. On that occasion, he said, he attempted to contact the author of one of the obituaries. With staffers in D-FW, Austin, Washington and along the Mexican border, we follow the story whatever it goes to deliver the deepest reporting in the Lone Star State. But the Tatums adduced evidence of more than a mere negligent investigation. As the Tatums urge, the service they bought was Paul's obituary. SUCV201001010, 2013 WL 4081413, at *912 (Mass.Super.Ct. One was an email to Blow in which the author wrote, He [Paul] was a popular and accomplished young man and many people understood to whom you referred.. Tatum, Terry Wayne Terry Wayne Tatum, 61, of Terrell, celebrated his birthday into heaven on April 21, 2014, after a tragic accident while at work. In adopting the verifiable as false test in Bentley and Neely, the Texas Supreme Court relied on the United States Supreme Court's decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990). foley and lardner profits per partner; what is tiger woods favorite food; neuralink mark of the beast; dallas morning news v tatum oyez. Id. And, for a matter to be a public controversy, its resolution must affect people beyond its immediate participants. As to the Tatums' first point, we agree that the column is capable of a defamatory meaning about them because a person of ordinary intelligence could read the column to accuse the Tatums of deception about the cause of Paul's death and a statement is defamatory if it impeaches a person's honesty or integrity. But appellees do not explain how the column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that appellees acted with the necessary degree of culpability? In re Lipsky, 460 S.W.3d 579, 593 (Tex.2015) (orig.proceeding). As to whether Blow misrepresented his investigation and the sources of his information, Blow testified by deposition that he learned the information about Paul's death that he used in his column from one of his colleagues at DMN. Become a business insider with the latest news. at 10. Did appellees establish as a matter of law that the column is privileged as a fair account of official proceedings or as a fair comment on a matter of public concern? Karen Misko took the post to be directed at her and sued Johns for libel. There was a page break in the middle of the column, and a slightly different headline appeared over the remainder of the column when it resumed on another page: Shrouding suicide in secrecy leaves its danger unaddressed. The column, with emphasis added, stated as follows: So I guess we're down to just one form of death still considered worthy of deception. Posted By : / thalassery to wayanad ksrtc bus timings /; Under :international norms examplesinternational norms examples The hypothetical person of ordinary intelligence is one who exercises care and prudence, but not omniscience, when evaluating an allegedly defamatory communication. Public figure status is a question of law for the court. 73.001; Am. We perceive no extravagant exaggeration in the column. Do you think that might be important for parents to understand? Even assuming that investigations by the police and the medical examiner are official proceedings, the column does not purport to report about those proceedings. Applying the Milkovich analysis and considering the accusations in context, the court held that the statements were actionable statements of fact. The case of Laird v. Tatum raised questions about the use of surveillance by the military and how it might affect the First. court opinions. DMN asserted the following traditional summary judgment grounds against the Tatums' DTPA claims: DMN did not commit a false, misleading, or deceptive act that the Tatums relied on. New York Times v. Sullivan-Alabama city commissioner sued NY Times -said an ad they published describing mistreatment of African American students had defamed him by implication-some of the statements in the ad were false or exaggerated, but those were small details The next question is whether the false gist of the column is nevertheless substantially true. Antitrust V. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, Appellees . Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 63. Accordingly, the court held that the columns were nonactionable opinions. The Tatums' attorney, Joe Sibley, said he could not comment since The News was a party to the lawsuit. That lawsuit was dismissed, and the Tatums appealed. Copyright Tobacco Co. v. Grinnell, 951 S.W.2d 420, 425 (Tex.1997). Issue Two: Did the trial court err by dismissing the Tatums' DTPA claims? On Petition for Review from the Court of Appeals for the Fifth District of Texas. Civil Procedure Believing that Paul's suicide was caused by a brain injury he sustained in the earlier automobile accident, the Tatums stated in the obituary that Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The obituary was published on May 21, 2010. hbbd``b`@q?`]$^@' BD A:X %@b5$t.#'PFF 6 Corporate Compliance We conclude that the Tatums adduced no evidence of this requirement. You're all set! Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. We sustain the Tatums' first issue. Read Tatum v. Dall. That appeal is also being decided today, John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum v. Julie Hersh, No. Dist., 858 S.W.2d 337, 341 (Tex.1993) (A motion [for summary judgment] must stand or fall on the grounds expressly presented in the motion.). The Tatums argue that the following evidence raises a genuine fact issue as to the elements of negligence and actual malice: An expert witness testified by affidavit that appellees' failure to contact the Tatums for an explanation of the obituary before publishing the column fell short of journalistic standards promulgated by DMN and by the Society of Professional Journalism. They also argue that the description of Paul as popular is inconsistent with an imputation of mental illness, as is the assertion that he committed suicide in a time of remorse after a car crash. Gacek v. Owens & Minor Distrib., Inc., 666 F.3d 1142, 114748 (8th Cir.2012); Scholz v. Bos. OPINION . When art expert Ted Pillsbury died in March, his company said he suffered an apparent heart attack on a country road in Kaufman County. at 6364. 16-0098 THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, PETITIONERS v. JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM, RESPONDENTS ON PETITION FOR REVIEW FROM THE COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FIFTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS Argued January 10, 2018 JUSTICE BROWN delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court with respect to Parts I, II, Specifically, the Tatums produced evidence that Blow did not contact them to determine the basis for their choice of words in Paul's obituary, and that this failure to contact them was a breach of journalistic standards and the newspaper's own policies. The trial court granted summary judgment for Petitioners. 17.46(b)(24); see also Brennan v. Manning, No. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that DMN violated 17.46(b)(24)? We determine substantial truth by assessing the publication's gist. See id. The Supreme Court has held that a defamation plaintiff must prove falsity if (i) the plaintiff is a public figure, or (ii) the defendant is a media defendant and the statement involves a matter of public concern. Rather, we conclude only that it is capable of having that meaning. I think the need to know is wired deeply in us. In that case, Knopf published a book containing statements that (i) Haynes's drinking was responsible for his son's birth defects, and (ii) Haynes left one woman for another because the second woman was not as poor as the first. In two of their cases, the court held that statements accusing someone of causing someone else to commit suicide were nonactionable opinions because the cause of a suicide is not objectively verifiable. And the gist includes an implication that the Tatums' motive for deceiving readers was to conceal that Paul had suffered from a mental illness that the Tatums failed to confront. Prac. We agree that the column's gist associates the obituary with deception, which denotes an intention to deceive, often for personal advantage. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among young people (ages 15 to 24) in this country. 73.002(b)(1)(B), and (ii) a reasonable and fair comment on or criticism of a matter of public concern published for general information, id. Id. [1] The Dallas woman first went public with her story of depression and suicide attempts in my column three years ago. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 70. In re Lipsky, 460 S.W.3d at 596. Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 114. Specifically, the first affidavit is by Dr. Robert Cargill, who possesses a Ph.D. in bioengineering. See id. The Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, Petitioners v. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum, Respondents No. The Tatums' first appellate issue argues that the trial court erred by granting summary judgment on their libel claims. (A publication is of and concerning the plaintiff if persons who knew and were acquainted with him understood from viewing the publication that the defamatory matter referred to him.). The trial court granted appellees' amended summary judgment motion, and the Tatums timely filed a notice of appeal. The trial court granted Defendant's motion to dismiss Plaintiffs' action under the Texas Citizens Participation Act. The court did not state the basis for any of its rulings. Newspapers don't write about suicides unless they involve a public figure or happen in a very public way. View "Dallas Morning News, Inc. v. Tatum" on Justia Law. Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. When reviewing a no-evidence summary judgment, we determine whether the nonmovant adduced sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of fact on the challenged elements. In this libel-by-implication case, a column written by Steve Blow and published by The Dallas Morning News (collectively, Petitioners) was reasonably capable of meaning that John and Mary Ann Tatum acted deceptively and that the accusation of deception was reasonably capable of defaming the Tatums. A statement does not have to refer to the plaintiff by name, however, if people who know and are acquainted with the plaintiff reasonably understand from reading the statement that it referred to the plaintiff. Main, 348 S.W.3d at 395; see also Houseman v. Publicaciones Paso del Norte, S.A., 242 S.W.3d 518, 525 (Tex.App.El Paso 2007, no pet.) That night, Paul was involved in a one-car automobile accident. People who were familiar with the situation understood the column to refer to Paul and his parents. Constr., L.P. v. Underwriters at Lloyd's London, 327 S.W.3d 118, 127 (Tex.2010) (citing dictionaries as aids to interpreting an insurance policy). at *5. It took a while for honesty to come to the AIDS epidemic. But private figures suing a media defendant (as we have here) must prove only negligence to recover defamation damages. We disagree. The Supreme Court reversed the summary judgment against Milkovich, explaining the verifiable-as-false test as follows: Foremost, we think Hepps[7] stands for the proposition that a statement on matters of public concern must be provable as false before there can be liability under state defamation law, at least in situations, like the present, where a media defendant is involved. Communications Law Fifth District of Texas at Dallas . Although the Tatums' mental states when they wrote the obituary may not be susceptible of direct proof, we conclude that they are sufficiently verifiable through circumstantial evidence, such as the investigation into the possible causes for Paul's suicide that the Tatums undertook, to make the column's defamatory gist about them verifiable under Milkovich and Neely. Obituaries Section. They also sued DMN for DTPA violations. Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 115. Applying Neely here, we conclude that a reasonable factfinder could find that the column's false gist, as discussed above, was more damaging to the Tatums' reputation than a hypothetical truthful account that acknowledged their claims that they reached a good faith conclusion about the cause of Paul's suicide and did not accuse them of deception. Appellees' contrary argument fails on the first prong we referenced abovethe existence of a public controversy for the Tatums to participate in. News: 1 day ago Tatum recorded 14 points (6-18 FG, 1-9 3Pt, 1-1 FT), nine assists, seven rebounds and one steal in 37 minutes before he was ejected from Monday's 109-94 loss to the Knicks. B. But I don't think we should feel embarrassment at all. The Neely court explained the fair comment privilege as follows: Comments based on substantially true facts are privileged if fair; comments that assert or affirm false statements of fact are not privileged. We review a summary judgment de novo. Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 475 U.S. 767, 77576 (1986); see also Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 116; Klentzman v. Brady, 456 S.W.3d 239, 26364 (Tex.App.Houston [1st Dist.] Some obituary readers tell me they feel guilty for having such curiosity about how people died. Civ. Intellectual Property He testified that he knew that Bruce Tomaso and Kevin Sherrington looked into Paul's death, and that he could not remember specifically which of them provided him with the information he used in the column. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, PETITIONERS, v. JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM, RESPONDENTS No. Julie recently wrote a blog item titled Don't omit from the obit, urging more openness about suicide as a cause of death. Injury Law In the case at bar, appellees argue that the column was a fair report of findings by the Dallas Police Department and the medical examiner that Paul had committed suicide. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). Justice Brown delivered the unanimous . Nevertheless, the Milkovich Court concluded that calling someone a liar and accusing someone of perjury are both sufficiently verifiable to support a defamation claim. We recently cited Lipsky and placed the burden of proving falsity on the plaintiff in a libel case involving the Texas Citizens Participation Act, Civ. The column purported to support this gist with the factual assertion that Paul committed suicide out of remorse, implicitly calling the obituary's statement that Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident a lie. Agriculture Law But the court went on to hold that "to the extent that the column states that the Tatums acted deceptively, it is true." The account about Pillsbury states that his company fabricated reports that Pillsbury had suffered a heart attack when actually he had shot himself to death. Please try again. If the plaintiff is a public official or a public figure, the required culpability is elevated from negligence to actual malice; that is, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant published the defamatory statement with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard as to whether it was true or false. But in late 2015, the 5th District Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit could go forward. This is some evidence of actual malice. Id. Labor & Employment Law Civ. But what was apparent to every witness on the scene that day was that Pillsbury had walked a few paces from his car and shot himself. In D Magazine Partners we said that the supreme court's 2000 Turner opinion suggests that lack of privilege might be an element of a defamation plaintiff's case, while its 2013 Neely opinion indicates that privilege is a defense. Id. To the extent West is similar to the instant case, we disagree with it. DC-11-07371 . Select your device from the three options below: Smartphone or Tablet Browser Desktop or Laptop Download the free iPad App Prac. 73.001 (West 2011). Texas Supreme Court dismisses defamation lawsuit against The Dallas Morning News John and Mary Ann Tatum, whose 17-year-old son shot himself, sued The News in 2011 alleging that a. 73.001. Id. News | Dallas Morning News 7848 News In this Section: Public Safety Weather Politics Crime Transportation Man accused of stealing earthquake donations from Flower Mound mosque arrested. 6. In addition to their libel claims, the Tatums also asserted DTPA claims against DMN. May 11, 2018. A statement is defamatory if it tends to (i) injure a person's reputation, (ii) expose him to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or financial injury, or (iii) impeach his honesty, integrity, or virtue. 051400951CV, 2015 WL 5156908, at *5, *8 (Tex.App.Dallas Aug. 28, 2015, pet. In this context, actual malice means knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the falsity of a statement. As the Court notes, the obituary stated that their son died "as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident." Their son had shot himself after he had been involved in a car accident. We disagree and affirm the judgment as to those claims. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the columns accusation of deception was reasonably capable of injuring the Tatums standing in the community but that Blows implicit statement that the Tatum acted deceptively was an opinion and thus not actionable. dallas morning news v tatum oyezcash cars for sale memphis. It does not mention those proceedings, nor does it report any statements or findings made in the course of those proceedings. The trial court later lifted the stay and again rendered a take-nothing summary judgment against the Tatums. 700 the dvd+ dvd+ monkey monkey the yellow yellow Similarly, although there is evidence that the Tatums disagreed with the manner of death finding of suicide on Paul's death certificate and tried to persuade the medical examiner to change it, there is no evidence that the outcome of this alleged controversy affected anyone except the Tatums. Id. The summary judgment evidence conflicts on certain points regarding the newspaper's investigation into Paul's death and the manner in which Blow learned about the immediate cause of Paul's death. Libel per quod is simply libel that is not actionable per se. Two, they did not mention suicide in the obituary because (i) they believed it would give a false impression that Paul committed suicide as a result of depression or other mental illness and (ii) they did not feel it would honor Paul's memory to include morbid details about his death or to include overly scientific information. We resolved that case, however, without deciding the issue because the placement of the burden there would not have affected the outcome.Although Turner contains a passing remark in dicta that a defamation plaintiff must prove that the publication is not privileged, 38 S.W.3d at 115, it does not cite Denton Publishing Co. or hint that it overrules that case's holding that privilege is an affirmative defense, 460 S.W.2d at 885. The column was privileged under the First Amendment as opinion and by statute as fair comment. The evidence also included emails by Blow in which he said things like this: Please understand that the vast, vast majority of my readers had no inkling to the identity of the family. Thus, the column does not qualify for the official proceeding privilege. Neely v. Wilson, 418 S.W.3d 52, 59 (Tex.2013). But recent Texas defamation cases may suggest that the plaintiff always has the burden of proving falsity. Although the column does not expressly make these assertions, roughly the last third of the column discusses the prevalence of suicide (specifically among young people), laments public silence about suicide's frequent cause (mental illness), and concludes, Awareness, frank discussion, timely intervention, treatmentthose are the things that save lives. The obituary with deception, which denotes an intention to deceive, often personal! Military and how it might affect the first affidavit is by Dr. Robert Cargill, possesses. 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