Keogh v. Pearson

35 F.R.D. 20, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9875
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 12, 1964
DocketNo. Civ. A. 3788-62
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 35 F.R.D. 20 (Keogh v. Pearson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Keogh v. Pearson, 35 F.R.D. 20, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9875 (D.D.C. 1964).

Opinion

SIRICA, District Judge.

This is an action for libel, alleging malicious defamation of the plaintiff, Eugene J. Keogh, a member of Congress-from the State of New York, by defendant, Drew Pearson, contained in two syndicated articles appearing in several newspapers, among them the newspaper published by defendant, Washington Post Company. The articles appeared .in the Post on December 12, 1961, and February 19, 1962.

Plaintiff seeks both compensatory and punitive damages.

Defendant Pearson (hereinafter referred to as “defendant”) was deposed for four days during May- and June of 1963. A subpoena which was served on him directed that he produce several documents at the deposition hearing. -

. Plaintiff now moves for an order compelling answers to certain questions which defendant refused to answer during the deposition hearing, and compelling the production, pursuant to subpoena, of documents which defendant has thus far not produced.

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Objections were made to several questions propounded to the defendant because they were directed to the defendant’s intent in writing the articles. The principal' ground in support of the objections was that “the columns speak for themselves.”

The United States Supreme Court has just stated that the issue of intent is relevant in libel suits brought by public officials. Mr. Justice Brennan, speaking for the Court, said:

“The constitutional guarantees require, we think, a federal rule that' prohibits a public official from recovering damages for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was-made with ‘actual malice’ [22]*22—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, 84 S.Ct. 710, 726.

This Court believes that if intent is to be an issue at trial (and plaintiff has made it clear that he intends to prove malicious intent at trial), then it becomes an issue now at the discovery-stage. Defendant will have the opportunity to explain what he meant by the articles, or any portion thereof, if this becomes necessary during the trial. If this opportunity will be afforded defendant during the trial, the opportunity to question defendant concerning his intent should be afforded plaintiff during the discovery proceedings.

Considering the items in plaintiff’s “Excerpts from Transcript of Deposition of Drew Pearson,” the Court makes the following rulings:

Item 1 is objected to because it is repetitious and argumentative. The Court sustains the objection.

Item 2 contains objections based upon the ground that the issue of intent is irrelevant. These objections are overruled for the aforementioned reasons.

Item 3 is covered by a later question and is therefore repetitious. The objection is sustained.

Item 4 contains a question which is indeed “fatuous” and immaterial and need not be answered. This question has nothing to do with the alleged malicious intent of defendant.

Item 5 contains two questions, the first of which is not repetitious since it does concern itself with the motivation behind the reporting of the alleged facts, whereas the questions on Tr. p. 150 (deposition transcript page 150) go to the bare truth of the facts as reported. Therefore, the first question must be answered. The second question is concerned with the issue of malice and must be answered.

In Item 6, insofar as the objection concerns the first question asked, the objection is moot, since the question was answered. The second objection, which attacks the second question as being argumentative and misleading, is well founded and, therefore, that question need not. be answered.

As for Item 7, it contains several questions which are met by various objections. The objections based upon irrelevancy are overruled for the reasons heretofore stated. The objections to the questions about the 1952 column are sustained because of the remoteness in point of time of the evidence sought.

Item 8 concerns itself with the question of intent and is, therefore, relevant.

Insofar as the questions in Item 9 concern themselves with the intent behind the matters occurring some ten or eleven years before the alleged libelous articles, they are too remote. Where the questions pertain to the intent behind the 1961 and 1962 articles, containing the alleged libels, they must be answered.

Item 10 contains objections in two main categories—remoteness and irrelevancy. The objections based upon the ground of remoteness are sustained; the objections based upon the ground of irrelevancy are overruled.

Item 11 is concerned with the question of intent alone and, therefore, all questions must be answered.

Item 12 contains many objections based upon the irrelevancy of defendant’s intent, and they are overruled. The question on Tr. p. 285 (“Did you, in your articles, intend the innuendo that Mr. Keogh was, in fact, a bad Congressman?”) is argumentative, as is the next question (“Did you intend the innuendo in your articles that Mr. Keogh accepted bribes?”), and, therefore, the objections are sustained as to those two questions.

Item 13 includes an objection to a repetitious question, which is sustained. Another objection, based upon the ground that the column “speaks for itself,” is overruled. ...

[23]*23Item 14 deals with intent again and the objections must be overruled, with the exception of the question on Tr. p. 294 (“And even though you have now been sued in connection with this very article, Mr. Pearson, do you tell me that you have not considered it of sufficient importance to discuss the source of that statement with Mr. Anderson or anyone else in any other but a casual way * * * as stated by you?”), which is irrelevant.

Item 15 contains two argumentative questions, Tr. p. 301, lines 10 and 22; the objections thereto are sustained. The other questions in Item 15 must be answered, except that the reference to the year 1949 again raises the objection of remoteness, and the objection thereto is sustained (Tr. p. 302).

Item 16 must be answered in all respects, since the objections are based entirely upon the contention that the issue of intent is irrelevant.

Item 17 contains an objection based upon the argumentative nature of a question and the same irrelevancy objection. The Court feels that the question is argumentative, Objection sustained.

In view of the exhaustive oral examination of defendant, covering four days, the Court feels that no good purpose would be served by further oral examination. Therefore, the answers to the questions which the Court has ordered shall be made in writing, within fifteen days of the entry of an appropriate order.

II

Several items of plaintiff’s subpoena have not been complied with by defendant.

Item 2 seeks all newspaper columns written by defendant between 1948 and 1962. If these columns were under the exclusive control of defendant, the Court might be ready to order their production. But these columns are readily available at the Library of Congress. Plaintiff cannot expect defendant to do his work for him. Aktiebolaget Vargos v. Clark, 8 F.R.D. 635, 636 (D.D.C.1949) ; Riss & Co. v. Assn. of American Railroads, 23 F.R.D. 211, 212 (D.D.C.1959). Therefore, the columns need not be produced.

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Bluebook (online)
35 F.R.D. 20, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9875, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/keogh-v-pearson-dcd-1964.