Vondra v. Crown Publishing Co.

15 Mass. L. Rptr. 272
CourtMassachusetts Superior Court
DecidedSeptember 12, 2002
DocketNo. 012199F
StatusPublished

This text of 15 Mass. L. Rptr. 272 (Vondra v. Crown Publishing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Superior Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Vondra v. Crown Publishing Co., 15 Mass. L. Rptr. 272 (Mass. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

Gants, J.

In 1988, Edward Bernays (“Mr. Bernays”), then 97 years old, hired the plaintiff, Joan Vondra (“Vondra”), to serve as his caretaker. On September 29, 1993, after concerns were raised about Mr. Bernays’ competency, Judge William Highgas of the Middlesex County Probate Court appointed the defendant Linda Kaloustian (“Kaloustian”) to serve as Mr. Bernays’ [281]*281guardian ad litem (“GAL”) and directed her to prepare a guardian ad litem report (“the GAL Report”). Kaloustian conducted an investigation into Mr. Bemays’ situation, which included inquiry into various allegations that had been made against Vondra regarding her purported misuse other caretaker responsibilities. On December 1, 1993, Kaloustian submitted her 103-page GAL Report to Judge Highgas. Although the Report was declared confidential by Judge High-gas, a copy came into the possession of the defendant Larry Tye (“Tye”), who was writing a biography of Mr. Bernays entitled, “Edward L. Bernays: Father of Spin,” detailing Mr. Bemays’ prominent career in public relations. Tye’s biography, which was first published in October 1998, included certain information from the GAL Report: Tye specifically cited the Report as his source in more than twenty footnotes.

Vondra claims that two statements in Tye’s biography of Mr. Bernays, both of which cited the GAL Report as their source, are false and defamatory. First, at page 231, Tye wrote:

It was their fear of financial finagling that first got Eddie’s daughters [the defendants Doris Bernays Held (“Held”) and Anne Bernays Kaplan (“Kaplan”)] worried. Anne received a call from a vice president at Sotheby’s auction house saying that Joan wanted to sell all of Eddie’s artwork, his furniture, and even his house.

Second, at page 233, Tye wrote:

The FBI was called in to work with the Cambridge police. A private investigator searched Joan’s room and, according to Doris, found “a dildo, marijuana pipe, empty wine bottles, and vague pornography.”1

In her complaint, Vondra alleges five counts, each brought against all of the defendants:

1. Defamation for the two purportedly false statements made in the GAL Report that were republished in Ttye’s biography:
2. Invasion of privacy for republishing confidential information contained in the GAL Report;
3. Violations of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act; G.L.c. 12, §§11H and 111, and G.L.c. 93, §102;
4. Intentional infliction of emotional distress; and
5. Malicious interference with her contractual rights to the confidentiality of the GAL Report.

The defendants Held, Kaplan, and Kaloustian, as well as Sotheby’s and Pat Ward, now move for summary judgment as to all five counts. After hearing and for the reasons stated below, these defendants’ motions for summary judgment are ALLOWED.

DISCUSSION

This Court will consider the counts in reverse order.

Count Five: Malicious Interference with Contractual Rights

The defendants are entitled to summary judgment on Count Five for at least two reasons. First, Vondra has no contractual right to the confidentiality of the GAL Report, and therefore cannot bring an action for any breach of that confidentiality. Second, even if Vondra were entitled to bring such a claim, she has presented no evidence that Held, Kaplan, Sotheby’s, Ward, or Kaloustian breached the order of confidentiality by providing a copy of the GAL Report to Tye or by assisting another to provide Tye with a copy.

Even if this Court were to interpret this claim to allege tortious interference with Vondra’s employment relationship with Mr. Bemays (which is not how the claim is characterized in Vondra’s complaint), it would still be of no avail to Vondra. There is no dispute that:

Vondra was terminated from her employment in August 1993,
Vondra knew that Held and Kaplan were responsible for her termination at the time,
even if she did not know then all that Held and Kaplan had done to cause her termination, she would have learned in detail what they did no later than July 1994, because Vondra admitted that, by then, she had read the GAL Report; and
Vondra did not file suit in this action until 2001.

Even with the most liberal interpretation of the discovery rule, the limitations period for Vondra to bring a tortious interference with contract claim based on these allegations expired by July 1997. Therefore, if this Court were to interpret this claim to focus on the role Mr. Bernays’ daughters played in firing Vondra as Mr. Bemays’ caretaker, any claim based on this theory would be barred by the statute of limitations.

Count Four: Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress

The defendants are also entitled to summary judgment on Count Four. Since Vondra has no evidence that either Held, Kaplan, Sotheby’s, Ward, or Kaloustian were responsible for the dissemination of the GAL Report to Ttye, they cannot be found to have intentionally inflicted emotional distress upon her by causing the publication of information in the GAL Report.

There is, however, evidence from Tye’s biography that Held spoke to Tye in 1996 and told him what she contended the private investigator had found in Vondra’s room at Mr. Bemays’ residence. Even assuming that Held furnished Ttye with this information, there can be no dispute that Held was reciting information that had already been provided to the GAL, which the GAL had included in her December 1, 1993 Report. Since Vondra obtained a copy of the GAL Report in the first half of 1994, and would have learned then of what Held had said about the results of the private investigator’s search of her room, any claim [282]*282that Held intended to inflict emotional distress upon Vondra by falsely reporting what the private investigator had found should have been brought no later than July 1997.

Moreover, to prevail on a claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, Vondra must show that “the defendant’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.” Tetrault v. Mahoney, Hawkes & Goldings, 425 Mass. 456, 466 (1997), quoting Payton v. Abbott Labs, 386 Mass. 540, 555 (1982). This Court, in the context of the unusual events in this case, finds as a matter of law that telling an author about a private investigator’s search of Vondra’s room, after that same information had been provided to the GAL for her Report, does not meet the demanding standard required to satisfy this essential element.

Count Three: Violations of the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act

Under the Massachusetts Civil Rights Act (“the Act”):

Any person whose exercise or enjoyment of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the United States, or of rights secured by the constitution or laws of the commonwealth has been interfered with, or attempted to be interfered with [by threats, intimidation or coercion] may institute and prosecute in his own name and on his own behalf a civil action for injunctive and other appropriate equitable relief . . .

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Bluebook (online)
15 Mass. L. Rptr. 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vondra-v-crown-publishing-co-masssuperct-2002.