Schaefer v. Lynch

Supreme Court of Louisiana

Schaefer v. Lynch

483 So. 2d 607, 1986 La. LEXIS 8175

CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana

DecidedFebruary 28, 1986

DocketNo. 81-C-1409

StatusPublished

This text of 483 So. 2d 607 (Schaefer v. Lynch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

Schaefer v. Lynch, 483 So. 2d 607, 1986 La. LEXIS 8175 (La. 1986).

Pincite

Opinion

DENNIS, Justice,

concurring.

The plaintiff admitted the lack of falsity in Lynch’s article. The defendants’ motion for summary judgment should have been granted based on that admission. The other evidence, including the Ross affidavit indicating malice on Lynch’s part, is irrelevant. Truth is a threshold inquiry beyond which the trial court and this court should not have gone in a case involving a public official and public affairs.

If upon a lawful occasion for making a publication, he has published the truth, and no more, there is no sound principle which can make him liable, even if he was actuated by express malice. If there is a lawful occasion — a legal right to make a publication — and the matter true, the end is justifiable, and that, in such case, must be sufficient.

Garrison v. State of Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64, 73, 85 S.Ct. 209, 215, 13 L.Ed.2d 125 (1964).

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