Manzoor Memon v. Haroon Shaikh

401 S.W.3d 407, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 5226, 2013 WL 1802629
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided April 30, 2013·No. 14-12-00015-CV·Published·Cited by 18 cases

Opinions

[410]*410OPINION

TRACY CHRISTOPHER, Justice.

The defendant in this defamation case asks us to reverse the judgment and remand the case for a new trial. He argues that this result is required because the jury’s answer to the single actual-damages question was predicated on its findings that he published nine defamatory statements that he knew or should have known were false, but the evidence is legally insufficient that one of the statements was false. He also asserts that the damages awarded are excessive and asks that we suggest remittitur reducing the actual-damages award from $350,002 to $20,000 and the exemplary-damages award from $350,000 to $5,000. Finally, he contends that the trial court erred in permanently enjoining him from publishing the same statements on which the jury based its liability findings, and argues that the findings necessary to support the injunction are contrary to those actually found by the jury.

We conclude that, with regard to the appellant’s challenge to the legal sufficiency of evidence to support certain of the jury’s findings concerning one of the nine statements at issue, any error is harmless because the statements were different factual bases for a single theory of liability rather than different liability theories. Additionally, even if each statement could be a separate liability theory, then the appellant failed to preserve his appellate arguments by objecting to the charge at trial. We further conclude that the evidence is factually sufficient to support the challenged findings, and that the permanent injunction is not inconsistent with the jury’s findings. We accordingly affirm the judgment.

I. Factual and ProCedural Background

Haroon Shaikh is an accountant who is active in a variety of civic, religious, and cultural organizations serving the Houston area generally and the Islamic and Pakistani communities in particular. Several years ago, Manzoor Memon began publishing a variety of defamatory statements about Shaikh in letters, blogs, emails, and a monthly newsletter. In Shaikh’s ensuing defamation suit against Memon, evidence of the facts recounted below was produced.

Until 2008 or 2010, Shaikh owned several video stores that stocked both adult and mainstream movies.1 He testified that he obtained legal opinions in August 2003 and again in August 2009 that the stores could be operated without a license from the city to operate a sexually-oriented business. Shaikh further testified that he did not promote the stores as “adult stores” or advertise them as adult video stores; that he did not ask anyone else to do so; and that he did not promote pornography. He has never been cited for operating a sexually-oriented business without a license.

On April 15, 2009, Memon wrote to the president of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (“ISGH”) urging him to stop employing Shaikh’s accounting firm. In the letter, Memon wrote that “recent government documents still show that Mr. Ha-roon Shaikh is President and CEO of a chain of Adult Book store[s] promoting pornography” and urging the organization to “terminate [its] relationship with a company whose owner is working against all Islamic values.” Memon further stated, “[M]y suggestion would be to take action without any publicity before this matter leaks to main stream media.” There is no evidence of any such government documents, and no evidence that Shaikh was an officer in a chain of adult bookstores.

[411]*411On June 22, 2009, Memon wrote to the directors of ISGH and fourteen branches of the organization suggesting that the organization’s president was “supporting Haroon Shaikh and condoning what he does[,] indirectly supporting pornography.”

The next day, Memon wrote to the may- or of Houston complaining about Shaikh’s appointment to the Mayor’s Advisory Board for International Affairs and to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority (“Sports Authority”). According to Mem-on, Shaikh was the “owner of multiple outlets of sexually[-]oriented businesses” and had been appointed to the Sports Authority’s board without proper investigation based on his financial contributions or the recommendations of the mayor’s supporters rather than on the basis of “ethics, moral character and community service.” Memon sent copies of the letter to the chairpersons of both boards and to “[a]ll media outlets.” Shaikh resigned from the Sports Authority on August 13, 2009. Two days later, an article appeared in the Houston Chronicle concerning the same allegations made by Memon, and including statements from Memon. The article provided in pertinent part as follows:

A prominent local businessman and generous City Hall campaign donor has resigned his post on the [Sports Authority] board amid questions about his ownership of several adult video stores.
[[Image here]]
The stores ... did not operate with sexually[-]oriented business permits, and are close to ... churches, schools, day care centers, residential neighborhoods or apartment complexes. City ordinance prohibits such businesses, referred to as SOBs, from operating within 1,500 feet of such areas.
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“We didn’t know it was an SOB,” Shaikh said. “The intention was never to run a sexually[-]oriented business. They’re closed now. We lost quite a bit of money and 14 people lost their jobs as of today.”
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[The assistant police chief stated that the] stores had never been targeted by police for SOB enforcement because they were not identified as “an extreme violator of vice laws.”
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Shaikh said he sold the businesses to his brother in July 2008, months before he was even considered for appointment to the [S]ports [Authority board. In the decade he owned the stores, he had operated under the assumption — made after consulting his attorney — that they did not meet the legal definition of a sexually[-]oriented businesses [sic] because 60 to 70 percent of their revenue was from the sale of mainstream feature films.
On Monday, the store at 10855 Telephone, for one, appeared to have far more adult titles for sale than mainstream films.
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Legal experts said state statute and case law associated with sexually[-]oriented businesses have defined “primary business” as “not incidental” to a company’s revenue and have stipulated that if the main draw of a business involves the sale of sexual images, it qualifies as its “primary business.”
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Manzoor Memon ... said Shaikh’s appointment was inappropriate given his ownership of the video stores.
“This makes it appear as though everything is for sale,” said Memon, who noted Shaikh’s campaign contributions. “The people who have big money go out and buy these positions.”
[412]*412[[Image here]]
[City council member M.J.] Khan said he was not aware “of the nature of those businesses” when he suggested the appointment [of Shaikh to the board of the Sports Authority].
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Manzoor Memon v. Haroon Shaikh, 401 S.W.3d 407, 2013 Tex. App. LEXIS 5226, 2013 WL 1802629 (Tex. Ct. App. 2013).

401 S.W.3d 407 (Manzoor Memon v. Haroon Shaikh) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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