People for Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Bobby Berosini Ltd.

895 P.2d 1269, 111 Nev. 615, 23 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1961, 1995 Nev. LEXIS 61
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedMay 22, 1995
Docket21580
StatusPublished
Cited by75 cases

This text of 895 P.2d 1269 (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Bobby Berosini Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People for Ethical Treatment of Animals v. Bobby Berosini Ltd., 895 P.2d 1269, 111 Nev. 615, 23 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1961, 1995 Nev. LEXIS 61 (Neb. 1995).

Opinions

OPINION

By the Court,

Springer, J.:

In this litigation respondent Berosini claims that two animal rights organizations, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and three individuals defamed him and invaded his privacy. Judgment was entered by the trial court on jury verdicts on the libel and invasion of privacy claims in the aggregate amount of $4.2 million. This appeal followed. We conclude that the evidence was insufficient to support the jury’s verdict and, accordingly, reverse the judgment.

The two independent claims, libel and invasion of privacy, each involving clearly distinct principles of law, will be discussed in separate sections of this opinion.

[618]*618PART ONE: THE LIBEL ACTIONS

The word libel comes from the Latin libellus, “little book.” The legal term derives from the practice in ancient Rome of publishing little books or booklets which were used by one Roman in defaming another. The “little book” in this case takes the form of a videotape which shows world-renowned animal trainer, Bobby Berosini, back-stage before the beginning of his show, shaking and punching his trained orangutans and hitting them with some kind of rod. We conclude that the libellus is not libelous.

In a critical pretrial discovery order, the trial court limited Berosini’s libel action to two categories, thus:

1. “[T]he [video] tape and its distribution and showing to the public.”
2. “[T]he alleged statements of Defendants quoted in the Amended Complaint,” namely, that all or some of the “Defendants had defamed Berosini by stating that Plaintiff Berosini regularly abuses his orangutans and has beaten them with steel rods, all of which is false.”1

[619]*619The mentioned pretrial order frames the libel issues in this appeal:

1. Were the “defendants,” or any of them, liable to Berosini by reason of distributing and showing the mentioned videotape?
2. Were the “defendants,” or any of them, liable to Berosini by reason of their having said either, (a) that Berosini “regularly abuses his orangutans” or (b) that Berosini “has beaten them with steel rods?”

To create liability for defamation there must be:

(a) a false and defamatory statement concerning another;
(b) an unprivileged publication to a third party;
(c) fault amounting at least to negligence on the part of the publisher; and
(d) either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm, or the existence of special harm caused by the publication.

Restatement (Second) of Torts § 558 (1965). Based on the absence of (a), a false and defamatory statement, we conclude that the two stated questions must be answered in the negative and that the judgment of the trial court must therefore be reversed.

FIRST LIBEL CLAIM: “[TJhe tape and its distribution and showing to the public.”

It is immediately apparent that the “distribution” and “showing” of this particular “little book” cannot possibly be either false or defamatory.2 The videotape is not “false” because it is an accurate portrayal of the manner in which Berosini disciplined his animals backstage before performances. The videotape is not defamatory because Berosini and his witnesses take the position that the shaking, punching, and beating that appear on the tape are necessary, appropriate and “justified” for the training, discipline, and control of show animals. If Berosini did not think that the tape showed him doing anything wrong or disgraceful, he should not be heard to complain that the defendants defamed him merely by “showing” the tape.

[620]*620Appellant Ottavio Gesmundo did the actual taping of Berosini. Gesmundo was a dancer in the Stardust Hotel’s “Lido” floor show, at which Berosini’s animal act was the principal attraction. Gesmundo claims that he was prompted to videotape Berosini’s treatment of the animals because he had become aware of Berosini’s conduct with the animals and thought that he would be in a better position to put an end to it if Berosini’s actions were permanently recorded on tape. Gesmundo says that he had, on a number of occasions, heard the animals crying out in distress and that he had overheard “thumping noises” coming from the area backstage where the videotaping was eventually done. The area in question was demarked by curtains which kept backstage personnel from entering the staging area where Berosini made last-minute preparations before going on stage. By looking through the worn portions of the curtains, Gesmundo testified that backstage personnel were able to observe the manner in which Berosini disciplined his animals in the mentioned staging area. Berosini’s position is that his actions depicted on the tape were a “proper” and “necessary” manner of treating these animals.

However motivated, Gesmundo did decide to record Berosini’s treatment of the animals on his eight-millimeter home video recorder. From July 9 through July 16, 1989, Gesmundo placed his video camera in a place that would permit Berosini’s actions to be recorded without Berosini’s being aware of it. Gesmundo would go home each night and transfer that day’s video recording onto a VHS tape. In doing this he would edit out the “dead-time,” the time during which Berosini was not within the curtained area preparing to go on stage. The final tape which Gesmundo put together showed nine separate incidents, with the date superimposed on the daily taped images.

All of the members of this court have viewed the tape; and what is shown on the tape is clear and unequivocal: Berosini is shown, immediately before going on stage, grabbing, slapping, punching and shaking the animals while several handlers hold the animals in position. The tape also shows Berosini striking the animals with a black rod approximately ten to twelve inches long. Perhaps Berosini has some explanation or justification for this conduct; but, the videotape accurately portrays what he was doing to these animals on at least nine different occasions. Berosini, himself, was forced to admit at trial that there was no visual inaccuracy in the images represented on the tape. Berosini’s counsel and Berosini’s video expert, Dennis Cooper, also agree to the accuracy of what is portrayed on the tape. There is no credible evidence that Gesmundo altered the tape in any manner that would render the tape, in any sense of the word, false. Had Gesmundo in some way been able to take this tape and [621]*621superimpose false images or sounds, it might be possible to say that he falsified the tape, but there is no evidence this was the case. There was no evidence presented which would support a conclusion that the tape, either visually or auditorily, was, of itself, false.3

The tape, of course, has nothing to do with whether Berosini was justified in punishing the animals; it just shows that he did in fact punish them. The showing and distributing of this tape was, plainly and simply, only the showing of this fact.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
895 P.2d 1269, 111 Nev. 615, 23 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1961, 1995 Nev. LEXIS 61, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-for-ethical-treatment-of-animals-v-bobby-berosini-ltd-nev-1995.