Middleton v. Sutton

Opinion

USCA1 Opinion

        January 9, 1996         [NOT FOR PUBLICATION]



                            UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS

                                FOR THE FIRST CIRCUIT


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        No. 95-1385


WILLIAM THOMAS MIDDLETON,



                                Plaintiff, Appellant,



                                          v.



                              ELIZABETH SUTTON, ET AL.,



                                Defendants, Appellees.


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                     APPEAL FROM THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT



                        FOR THE DISTRICT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE



                    [Hon. Paul J. Barbadoro, U.S. District Judge]
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                                 ____________________



                                        Before



                                Selya, Cyr and Boudin,

                                   Circuit Judges.
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                                 ____________________



            William Thomas Middleton on brief pro se.
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            William L.  Chapman and Orr  and Reno, Prof.  Assoc. on brief  for
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        appellees.


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Per Curiam.  The plaintiff, now  serving a term for
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            possession  of  child  pornography,  was  the  subject  of  a



            television program that portrayed him as one who had sexually



            abused and exploited his  own children.  In this  jury waived



            libel action by  the plaintiff against those  involved in the



            program, the  district court ruled on  summary judgment that,



            whether  the program was accurate  or not, the defendants had



            met  the local libel  rules by exercising  reasonable care in



            their   investigation.    See,   e.g.,  Duchesnaye  v.  Munro
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            Enterprises, Inc.,  125 N.H.  244, 251 (1984);  accord, e.g.,
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            Kassel v. Gannet Co., 875 F.2d 935, 943 (1st Cir. 1989).  For
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            the reasons given  by the  district court, we  agree that  no



            factual  issue  was  presented  as  to  the  adequacy  of the



            investigation on those charges.



                      The  television program  itself, despite  a shallow



            pretence  at serious reporting, was -- as to the plaintiff --



            a highly colored and inflammatory version of the events.  But



            there seems to have been at least some evidence for, and some



            investigation  of, various  key charges.   The  most dramatic



            exception  was the suggestion, for which we have been offered



            no evidence whatever, that  plaintiff served in a pornography



            ring  that was  involved  in the  murder  of children.    But



            plaintiff   himself  failed  to   stress  this  murder  claim



            adequately in opposing summary judgment, it went  unmentioned


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by  the district  judge,  and we  think  it  is too  late  to



            resurrect it now.



                      Affirmed.
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