Battle v. A & E Television Networks, LLC

837 F. Supp. 2d 767, 39 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2362, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82407, 2011 WL 3205359
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 27, 2011
DocketNo. 3:11-0013
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 837 F. Supp. 2d 767 (Battle v. A & E Television Networks, LLC) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Battle v. A & E Television Networks, LLC, 837 F. Supp. 2d 767, 39 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2362, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82407, 2011 WL 3205359 (M.D. Tenn. 2011).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

KEVIN H. SHARP, District Judge.

This is a defamation action arising from the production and airing of a television program (“the Program”) titled “Conspiracy.” The Program was produced by Defendant Wild Eyes Productions, Inc. (“Wild Eyes”) for the series, “The Squad: Prison Police,” and aired by Defendant A & E Television Networks, LLC (“A & E”). In the Program, Plaintiff Marlorita Battle is unwittingly filmed while vising her husband at the Riverbend Maximum Security Institution (“Riverbend”) in Nashville, Tennessee.

Plaintiff has filed an Amended Complaint in which she sets forth claims against Defendants for “defamation/false light” (Count I) and the intentional infliction of emotional distress (Count II).1 Defendants now move to dismiss the Amended Complaint (Docket No. 25)2, and that motion has been fully briefed by the parties. (Docket Nos. 13, 16, 26, 30, 33-1 & 35).

I. STANDARD OF REVIEW

As a general rule, in considering a motion to dismiss under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6), a court must take “all well-pleaded material allegations of the pleadings” as true. Fritz v. Charter Township of Comstock, 592 F.3d 718, 722 (6th Cir.2010). The factual allegations in the complaint “need to be sufficient to give notice to the defendant as to what claims are alleged, and the plaintiff must plead [770]*770‘sufficient factual matter’ to render the legal claim plausible, i.e., more than merely possible.” Id. (quoting Ashcroft v. Iqbal, 556 U.S. 662, 129 S.Ct. 1937, 1949-50, 173 L.Ed.2d 868 (2009)). “ ‘A legal conclusion couched as a factual allegation,’ ” however, “need not be accepted as true on a motion to dismiss, nor are recitations of the elements of a cause of action sufficient.” Id. (quoting Hensley Mfg. v. Pro-Pride, Inc., 579 F.3d 603, 609 (6th Cir.2009) and Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544, 127 S.Ct. 1955, 1965, 167 L.Ed.2d 929 (2007)). Further, in determining whether a complaint sets forth a plausible claim, a court may consider not only the allegations, but “may also consider other materials that are integral to the complaint, are public records, or are otherwise appropriate for the taking of judicial notice.” Ley v. Visteon Corp., 543 F.3d 801, 805 (6th Cir.2008) (citation omitted).

II. DISCUSSION

As noted, the Amended Complaint contains claims for defamation/false light, and the intentional infliction of emotional distress. The Court sets forth its analysis regarding the claims under separate subheadings.

A. Defamation/False Light — Count I

A claim for common law defamation may be based upon written (libel) or spoken (slander) words. Quality Auto Parts Co., Inc. v. Bluff City Buick Co., 876 S.W.2d 818, 820 (Tenn.1994). “The basis for an action for defamation, whether it be slander or libel, is that the defamation has resulted in an injury to the person’s character and reputation.” Id. To establish defamation, “Plaintiff must prove that (1) a party published a statement; (2) with knowledge that the statement was false and defaming to the other; or (3) with reckless disregard for the truth of the statement or with negligence in failing to ascertain the truth of the statement.” Shamblin v. Martinez, 2011 WL 1420896 at *3 (Tenn.Ct.App. April 13, 2011).

A claim for defamation often overlaps with a claim for false light invasion of privacy, but the Tennessee Supreme Court has determined that “the differences between the two torts warrant their separate recognition.” West v. Media Gen’l Convergence, Inc., 53 S.W.3d 640, 645 (Tenn.2001). To establish a claim for the false light invasion of privacy, a plaintiff must prove “that a defendant published a matter concerning the plaintiff, placing the plaintiff before the public in a false light which is highly offensive to a reasonable person, and the defendant had knowledge that his statement was false or acted recklessly with regard to the falsity of the publicized statement.” Gard v. Harris, 2010 WL 844810 (Tenn.Ct.App.2010) (citing, West, 53 S.W.3d at 643-44).

Although “the common law has afforded a cause of action for damage to a person’s reputation by the publication of false and defamatory statements” since at least “the latter half of the 16th century,” Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 11, 110 S.Ct. 2695, 111 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990), the Supreme Court has imposed certain constitutional limits on state law defamation claims because the First Amendment protects society’s interest in “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open debate,” and “[w]hatever is added to the field of libel [and slander] is taken from the field of free debate.’ ” New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 270 & 272, 84 S.Ct. 710, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Such limitations were summarized by the Supreme Court as follows:

One can discern in these [Supreme Court] decisions two forces that may reshape the common-law landscape to conform to the First Amendment. The first is whether the plaintiff is a public official or figure, or is instead a private figure. The second is whether the [771]*771speech at issue is of public concern. When the speech is of public concern and the plaintiff is a public official or public figure, the Constitution clearly requires the plaintiff to surmount a much higher barrier before recovering damages from a media defendant than is raised by the common law. When the speech is of public concern but the plaintiff is a private figure, ... the Constitution still supplants the standards of the common law, but the constitutional requirements are, in at least some of their range, less forbidding than when the plaintiff is a public figure and the speech is of public concern. When the speech is of exclusively private concern and the plaintiff is a private figure, ... the constitutional requirements do not necessarily force any change in at least some of the features of the common-law landscape.

Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 475 U.S. 767, 775, 106 S.Ct. 1558, 89 L.Ed.2d 783 (1986) (internal citations omitted).

In her filings, Plaintiff spends some time arguing that she is a private figure and that the subject of the Program did not involve a matter of public concern. In response to those arguments, Defendants assert those issues are not relevant at this time. (Docket No. 26 at 10).

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837 F. Supp. 2d 767, 39 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2362, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82407, 2011 WL 3205359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/battle-v-a-e-television-networks-llc-tnmd-2011.