Woodward v. Weiss

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
• Decided: October 2, 1997
• Docket: 96-1913
• Status: Unpublished

Opinion

UNPUBLISHED

UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE FOURTH CIRCUIT

No. 96-1913

W. MCGILL WOODWARD; W. MCGILL WOODWARD, P.A.,

Plaintiffs - Appellants,

versus

BERNIE WEISS; AMERICAN MEDICAL ANALYSIS, INCORPORATED,

Defendants - Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of South Carolina, at Charleston. Patrick Michael Duffy, District Judge. (CA-95-578-23-2)

Submitted: July 31, 1997 Decided: October 2, 1997

Before HALL, NIEMEYER, and HAMILTON, Circuit Judges.

Affirmed by unpublished per curiam opinion.

Stephen P. Groves, Sr., Thomas S. Tisdale, Jr., Stephen L. Brown, YOUNG, CLEMENT, RIVERS & TISDALE, L.L.P., Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellants. Thomas J. Wills, James E. Reeves, BARNWELL, WHALEY, PATTERSON & HELMS, L.L.C., Charleston, South Carolina, for Appellees.

Unpublished opinions are not binding precedent in this circuit. See Local Rule 36(c). PER CURIAM:

Dr. McGill Woodward appeals the district court's order grant-

ing Defendants summary judgment in this defamation action. We have

reviewed the record and the district court's opinion and find no reversible error. Accordingly, we affirm on the reasoning of the

district court. Woodward v. Weiss, 932 F. Supp. 723 (D.S.C. 1996).* We dispense with oral argument because the facts and legal conten-

tions are adequately presented in the materials before the court

and argument would not aid the decisional process.

AFFIRMED

* We adopt the district court's reasoning insofar as it relates to the issues of privilege only. We decline to determine whether the First Amendment protections discussed in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1 (1990), apply in this case involving a private Plaintiff, non-media Defendants, and statements of private concern, as resolution of the constitutional issue is not necessary to the disposition of the case. See Lapkoff v. Wilks, 969 F.2d 78, 81 (4th Cir. 1992).