Jensen v. Times-Mirror

647 F. Supp. 1525, 13 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2160
CourtDistrict Court, D. Connecticut
DecidedNovember 20, 1986
DocketCiv. No. B-82-368 (PCD)
StatusPublished

This text of 647 F. Supp. 1525 (Jensen v. Times-Mirror) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Connecticut primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jensen v. Times-Mirror, 647 F. Supp. 1525, 13 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2160 (D. Conn. 1986).

Opinion

RULING ON MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION

DORSEY, District Judge.

Defendants’ motion for summary judgment, with respect to the claims of libel and privacy-false light, was denied on the basis that a question of fact was presented. Jensen v. Times-Mirror, 634 F.Supp. 304 (D.Conn.1986). The question found was whether defendants’ publication could be found to have resulted from “ ‘actual malice,’ — that is with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 279-80, 84 S.Ct. 710, 1725-26, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964). Actual malice must be proved with “convincing” clarity. Id. at 285-86, 84 S.Ct. at 728-29.

Defendants have moved for reconsideration in light of several cases decided recently, including after the filing of briefs and, in the instance of Anderson v. Liberty Lobby Inc., — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986), after the memorandum of decision. The prior ruling, in which plaintiff was held to be a limited purpose public figure, denied summary judgment by reason of the existence of a genuine issue of material fact based on evidence from which a jury could find actual malice with convincing clarity. Jensen, 634 F.Supp. at 314. The observation of Justice White, that the threshold for proof of malice by clear and convincing evidence is an “almost impossible level,” Dun & Bradstreet v. Greenmoss Builders, 472 U.S. 749, 105 S.Ct. 2939, 2952, 86 L.Ed.2d 593 (1985) (White, J., concurring), was considered.

Dedication to principles of freedom of speech requires a balance of competing interests. On the one hand, false publications are and should be suspect. The concept of vigorous debate and freedom from any inhibition, even self-censorship, must be preserved, but certainly not at the price of unlimited destruction of individual reputations. It is certainly sound to require “close judicial scrutiny” of these cases which go to a jury, Ollman v. Evans, 750 F.2d 970, 997 (D.C.Cir.1984) (en banc) (Bork, J., concurring), cert. denied, 471 U.S. 1127, 105 S.Ct. 2662, 86 L.Ed.2d 278 (1985) , and of demands for redress which risk the restriction of “the scope of the First Amendment guarantees of free speech and free press.” Herbert v. Lando, 781 F.2d 298, 302 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 2916, 91 L.Ed.2d 545 (1986) . Yet, the first amendment is not only protective of but exercised by human beings who are subject to all the vagaries of human nature and their emotions, motivations, limitations, integrity, insight and intelligence. It serves a community ill if the power of the press is used with a resultant substantial negative imprint on an individual. On the other hand, of course, it is not enough that the publication be false, though a false publication about a person can be devastating. Malice in the [1527]*1527motivation for the publication or reckless disregard for the truth, the Sullivan tests, are subjective standards for the mental processes of the publisher. Only when such are shown will the publisher be stripped of this constitutional protection.

A higher stone in the protective wall of constitutional speech is the requirement that malice, or reckless disregard, be proved with convincing clarity. A jury question remains but the standard of proof is thus much higher. No court has yet removed the seventh amendment right to jury trial in deference to a holding of absolute protection under the first amendment. Absent clear and convincing proof of actual malice a judgment against a publisher cannot stand. Bose Corp. v. Consumers Union, 466 U.S. 485, 511, 104 S.Ct. 1949, 1965, 80 L.Ed.2d 502 (1984). The claim of a plaintiff which clearly is implausible, to use the text of Matsushita Electric Indust. Co. v. Zenith Radio Corp., — U.S. -, 106 S.Ct. 1348, 1356, 89 L.Ed.2d 538 (1986), would not be sufficiently supported to present a genuine issue of material fact. Yet, what is implausible to one may be very plausible to another or others. It is not surprising that the test for cases which present jury questions cannot be defined with microscopic precision. When any judge finds that a case presents, or fails to present, a jury question, the decision will always be subject to appellate review and, potentially, a contrary finding. In exercising that judgment, when faced with many factors favoring the protection of the first amendment, caution before stripping away the right to a jury trial is prudent.

None of the cases cited by defendants in seeking reconsideration, Anderson, 106 S.Ct. at 2505; Matsushita, 106 S.Ct. at 1348; nor Herbert, 781 F.2d at 298, articulate principles different from those applied in this court’s original decision. Each does stress the exaltation of the first amendment protection and the definitive necessity of a substantial showing before a question of fact is found. If, of course, there is no evidence to support a contention, the claim does not go to the jury. Even “some” evidence or the “scintilla” of evidence will no longer suffice. Anderson, 106 S.Ct. at 2511, quoting Improvement Co. v. Munson, 14 Wall 442, 448, 20 L.Ed. 867 (1872). The evidence to support plaintiff’s claims must be such as would permit a jury finding or avoid a directed verdict. See Sartor v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corp., 321 U.S. 620, 624, 64 S.Ct. 724, 727, 88 L.Ed. 967 (1944); Bill Johnson’s Restaurants, Inc. v. NLRB, 461 U.S. 731, 745, n. 11, 103 S.Ct. 2161, 2171, n. 11, 76 L.Ed.2d 277 (1983). Yet no matter how the test is articulated, it comes down to whether the evidence “is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law,” or could “a fair minded jury ... return a verdict for the plaintiff on the evidence presented.” Anderson, 106 S.Ct. at 2512 (holding that question to be tested in a libel case by the clear and convincing standard). Liability may be assessed only “when the press so oversteps its editorial freedom that it contains falsity and does so with the requisite degree of fault. Machleder v. Diaz, 801 F.2d 46, 55 (2d Cir.1986).

As previously analyzed, plaintiff’s case is hardly robust. If plaintiff is believed on her word alone, she told the defendants she knew Kathy Boudin as such prior to the Brink’s robbery. From such a crediting of plaintiff, defendant’s publications, i.e., those which remain in issue, could be found to be false. Further, they could be found to have been published when defendants knew they were false.

However, plaintiff’s claims of reporting the truth are not clear statements of fact. They are oblique statements that, at best, arguably informed defendants, through defendant Brief, of her knowledge of the facts. That claim is to be contrasted to her conduct in clearing for publication the article of October 22, 1981, which could be seen as an outright contradiction.

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Related

Improvement Company v. Munson
81 U.S. 442 (Supreme Court, 1872)
Sartor v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corp.
321 U.S. 620 (Supreme Court, 1944)
New York Times Co. v. Sullivan
376 U.S. 254 (Supreme Court, 1964)
Adickes v. S. H. Kress & Co.
398 U.S. 144 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Dun & Bradstreet, Inc. v. Greenmoss Builders, Inc.
472 U.S. 749 (Supreme Court, 1985)
Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc.
477 U.S. 242 (Supreme Court, 1986)
Bertell Ollman v. Rowland Evans, Robert Novak
750 F.2d 970 (D.C. Circuit, 1984)
Jensen v. Times Mirror Co.
634 F. Supp. 304 (D. Connecticut, 1986)
Herbert v. Lando
781 F.2d 298 (Second Circuit, 1986)
Machleder v. Diaz
801 F.2d 46 (Second Circuit, 1986)

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Bluebook (online)
647 F. Supp. 1525, 13 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jensen-v-times-mirror-ctd-1986.