Tatum v. Liner

749 S.W.2d 251, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3454, 1988 WL 47206
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 13, 1988
Docket04-86-00575-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 749 S.W.2d 251 (Tatum v. Liner) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tatum v. Liner, 749 S.W.2d 251, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3454, 1988 WL 47206 (Tex. Ct. App. 1988).

Opinions

OPINION

CANTU, Justice.

Carolyn Liner, appellee, brought suit against appellant, W.R. Tatum, for defamation. Appellee had been employed as personnel manager for the City of Seguin and had resigned to become director of personnel for the City of San Marcos. Specifically, appellee alleged that appellant made statements about appellee misrepresenting her Seguin salary in order to obtain a salary in San Marcos exceeding her Se-guin salary by $9,000, and that appellee had experienced some trouble with Se-guin’s City Council due to excessive absences and to a possible conflict of interest with her work for the Seguin Chamber of Commerce. The evidence showed that appellant, who was Treasurer for the City of [253]*253Seguin, repeated such statements on several occasions to a San Marcos City Councilman, appellant was present at a San Marcos City Council meeting to speak about appellee, and he gave press releases about appellee to the San Marcos newspaper and radio.

A jury found that the alleged statements by appellant were defamatory, false, and made without privilege, but made without malice. The jury assessed appellee’s damages at $10,000, with an additional award of $65,000 for punitive damages. The trial judge, however, entered judgment deleting punitive damages because the jury found no malice. Judgment was entered for ap-pellee in the sum of $10,000 plus prejudgment interest.

Appellant brings seventeen points of error. Appellant complains of the trial court’s refusal to grant a judgment n.o.v. on grounds of the defenses of privilege, truth, and no injury. Furthermore, appellant contends there was no evidence and insufficient evidence to support several of the jury’s findings. Finally, appellant complains of the rendering of prejudgment interest.

Appellee in one cross-point of error alleges that the trial court erred in excluding the jury award of $65,000 as punitive damages.

We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. REFUSAL TO GRANT JUDGMENT N.O.V.

A. Privilege

In his first point of error, appellant multifariously states that “[t]he trial court erred in overruling his motion for judgment n.o.v. and his motion for [instructed] verdict because the evidence establishes as a matter of law that the statements made by [appellant] were privileged, and [appellee] failed to prove that [appellant] made the statements with malice.” Appellant’s point is not properly briefed because it groups together at least two independent complaints, without reference to the record, and the argument confuses four distinct privileges. Nevertheless, this Court will consider each contention as we glean it from the body of appellant’s brief. TEX.R. APP.P. 74(d).

Appellant affirmatively raised privilege in his answer, alleging that appellee is a public official which gives the public an independent interest in her job performance and qualifications. Appellant’s answer further raised privilege under the first and fourteenth amendments of the United States Constitution because the statements allegedly constituted “fair comment and criticism” of appellee made without actual malice.

Defendant’s Motion for Instructed Verdict, which was denied, made reference only to damages and made no reference to any privilege. Thus, no error can be assigned to the trial judge’s overruling of the motion for instructed verdict on the basis of privilege since it was not raised in the motion. The portion of appellant’s first point of error which complains of the trial court’s failure to grant an instructed verdict is overruled.

Appellant made a motion for summary judgment, claiming privilege, which was denied. However, appellant does not complain on appeal of the trial court’s failure to grant summary judgment. The record does not reflect that appellant requested the trial judge to find privilege as a matter of law at any time prior to the submission of issues.

Appellant’s requested Special Issue No. 8 and accompanying instruction are as follows:

SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 8
Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the statements made by defendant were privileged?
YES_ NO_
The defendant has plead [sic] that the statements made to the City Councilman in San Marcos were privileged because it involved matters of substantial public interest. The Court has decided as a matter of law that the matter involved was such as to entitle defendant to assert this defense. A privileged communi[254]*254cation that may be defamatory in character is a communication by a person in the discharge of some private or public duty, legal or moral, or in the conduct of his own affairs in matters where his interest is concerned. However, the law is that the defense is destroyed of [sic] the privilege is abused by the one claiming it. The burden is on the plaintiff to show such abuse in order to overcome the privilege. Such a showing may be made by evidence that the defendant acted maliciously or in bad faith, with intent to injure the reputation of the plaintiff, and with actual malice, (emphasis added).

The trial court, instead, submitted to the jury the following instruction and Special Issue No. 5:

Á privileged communication that may be defamatory in character is a communication by a person in the discharge of some private or public duty, legal or moral, or in the conduct of his own affairs in matters where his interest is concerned. However, the law is that the defense is destroyed if the privilege is abused by the one claiming it. The burden is on the plaintiff to show such abuse in order to overcome the privilege. Such a showing may be made by evidence that the defendant acted maliciously or in bad faith, with intent to injure the reputation of the plaitiff [sic], and with actual malice.

SPECIAL ISSUE NO. 5

Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the statements made by defendant were privileged?
Answer “Yes” or “No.”
Answer NO

Appellant’s motion for judgment n.o.v., which was filed September 2,1986, includes the following argument:

There is no evidence to support the jury’s answer of “No” to Special Issue No. 5, which reads as follows:
‘Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the statements made by defendant were privileged?’
The evidence was overwhelmingly to the contrary. Moreover, plaintiff was a public official. As Personnel Director, she was required, from time to time, to appear at City Council meetings and report to the council. In addition, she made public appearances at Chamber of Commerce ceremonies, participating in such ceremonies, and posing for newspaper photos. Plaintiff, in addition, held one of the highest paid positions with the City. Defendant further showed the Court that the nature of his communication with the City councilman was qualifiedly privileged in that the communication was made in good faith, and was a subject matter of common interest to the two, such subject matter being the expenditure of public funds in their respective cities.

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Tatum v. Liner
749 S.W.2d 251 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)

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Bluebook (online)
749 S.W.2d 251, 1988 Tex. App. LEXIS 3454, 1988 WL 47206, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tatum-v-liner-texapp-1988.