News | Dallas Morning News 7848 News In this Section: Public Safety Weather Politics Crime Transportation Man accused of stealing earthquake donations from Flower Mound mosque arrested. Dist., 858 S.W.2d 337, 341 (Tex.1993) (A motion [for summary judgment] must stand or fall on the grounds expressly presented in the motion.). Conversely, a publication that consists of statements that are literally true when read in isolation can still convey a false and defamatory meaning by omitting or juxtaposing facts. We held that these affidavits provided clear and specific evidence that the post was about Misko, even though Misko was not named in it. In that regard, the statement must point to the plaintiff and to no one else. The trial court granted summary judgment for Petitioners. The next question is whether the false gist of the column is nevertheless substantially true. Smith v. Deneve, 285 S.W.3d 904, 909 (Tex.App.Dallas 2009, no pet.). The Tatums timely filed a second notice of appeal. 7. Civ. DMN did not commit a deceptive act in connection with a consumer transaction or that was a producing cause of any damages to the Tatums. "With its unanimous ruling, the court affirmed that Steve Blow's piece was clearly an opinion column protected by law.". The Tatums' argument fails because the information that DMN allegedly failed to disclose does not concern the service they bought. See Zerangue v. TSP Newspapers, Inc., 814 F.2d 1066, 107071 (5th Cir.1987) (courts have upheld actual malice findings when the supposed source of the story disclaimed giving the information); see also Celle v. Filipino Reporter Enter., Inc., 209 F.3d 163, 190 (2d Cir.2000) (defendant's self-contradictory testimony about the source of his information supported actual malice finding). The Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, Petitioners v. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum, Respondents No. There was no evidence of actual malice. Hepps ensures that a statement of opinion relating to matters of public concern which does not contain a provably false factual connotation will receive full constitutional protection. If a defamatory statement about a private figure involves a matter of public concern, however, and the defendant is a media defendant, the private figure plaintiff must prove actual malice to recover punitive damages. The test here is whether the defamatory statement is verifiable as false. See Waste Mgmt. The Tatums also filed copies of a number of emails bearing on the subject. Based on the record before us, we conclude that the Tatums were not limited-purpose public figures. O. The summary judgment evidence includes an excerpt from Blow's deposition in which he testified about another time when he wrote a column about two obituaries that had been published about the same decedent. Id. On Appeal from the 68th Judicial District Court Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. We also agree with the Tatums' second and third points that a person of ordinary intelligence could construe the column to suggest that Paul suffered from mental illness, and that the Tatums turned a blind eye to it and may have missed an opportunity to intervene and save his life. Prac. As explained above, a false gist is substantially true and nonactionable if it is no more damaging to the plaintiff's reputation than a truthful publication would have been. Personal Injury We construe an allegedly defamatory publication as a whole, in light of the surrounding circumstances, based on how a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive it. See id. Real Estate Law The new Dallas Morning News app combines two apps into one. By statute, a newspaper or other periodical enjoys a privilege against libel actions regarding the publication of certain matters, including (i) a fair, true, and impartial account of an official proceeding to administer the law, Civ. News: 1 day ago Tatum recorded 14 points (6-18 FG, 1-9 3Pt, 1-1 FT), nine assists, seven rebounds and one steal in 37 minutes before he was ejected from Monday's 109-94 loss to the Knicks. May 11, 2018. The Tatums son shot himself hours after he was involved in a serious car crash in 2010, according to court records. See id. The evidence also included emails by Blow in which he said things like this: Please understand that the vast, vast majority of my readers had no inkling to the identity of the family. The column describes Paul's obituary and death immediately after it describes the fabricated cause of death that was advanced after Ted Pillsbury's suicide. That lawsuit was dismissed, and the Tatums appealed. Issue One: Did the trial court err by dismissing the Tatums' libel claims? featuring summaries of federal and state Specifically, the following circumstantial evidence bears on, or could have affected, the Tatums' state of mind when they wrote the obituary and supports the verifiability of the column's gist: (i) the Tatums searched for answers to the question of why Paul did it; (ii) both Tatumsand we note that Mary Ann Tatum is a mental health professionaltestified that Paul had no history of mental illness associated with suicidal behavior; (iii) Paul left no suicide note; (iv) Paul's texts to friends after the accident made it seem that something had happened in the accident to change his state of mind; (v) the vehicle's condition made it seem probable that Paul hit his head in the accident; and (vi) the Tatums researched online and discovered that emerging scientific data links brain injury to suicidal behavior. The actual column, however, can be read to allow and encourage the reader to conclude that the Tatums had no basis for attributing Paul's death to injuries sustained in the earlier car crash and that they wanted to deceive the obituary's readers about the cause of Paul's death, perhaps to conceal their own failure to save his life through an intervention. denied) (objection that opinions are speculative can be raised for the first time on appeal). 3 On June 20, 2010Father's Day, and about one month after Paul's suicidethe paper published a column by Blow entitled "Shrouding Suicide Leaves its Danger Unaddressed." 4 In re Lipsky, 460 S.W.3d at 596. Think of how much more attention we pay to the latter. You're all set! P. 166a(i). Additionally, the summary judgment evidence established that the Tatums were out of town the day the column was published. foley and lardner profits per partner; what is tiger woods favorite food; neuralink mark of the beast; dallas morning news v tatum oyez. DC-11-07371 . Appellees argue that a public controversy existed over the official cause of Paul's death. Neely's substantial truth analysis is instructive. Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among young people (ages 15 to 24) in this country. DMN asserted the following traditional summary judgment grounds against the Tatums' DTPA claims: DMN did not commit a false, misleading, or deceptive act that the Tatums relied on. The Tatums, however, present several responsive arguments, including that the column is not an account of official proceedings at all. See id. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61. As the Court notes, the obituary stated that their son died "as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident." Their son had shot himself after he had been involved in a car accident. Founded in 1885, The Dallas Morning is North Texas' largest news team. 73.002(b)(2). Whether a publication is capable of a defamatory meaning is initially a question for the court. Id. We therefore decline to follow West. 73.001 (West 2011). Although the column did not mention the Tatums by name, it quoted from Paul's obituary and it described him and events surrounding his death. Milkovich lost on summary judgment and appealed all the way to the Supreme Court. The Dallas Morning News published the obituary on May 21, 2010. And for us, there the matter ended. Did appellees conclusively prove the official proceeding privilege? We conclude that the Tatums adduced no evidence of this requirement. Banking at 62 (In this defamation suit involving two physicians, we clarify a longstanding distinction between defamation and defamation per se). I think the need to know is wired deeply in us. One was an email to Blow in which the author wrote, He [Paul] was a popular and accomplished young man and many people understood to whom you referred.. The Dallas Morning News published the obituary on May 21, 2010. Limited-purpose public figures are generally people who have thrust themselves to the forefront of a particular public controversy to influence its resolution, or who have voluntarily injected themselves or been drawn into a public controversy. 186 0 obj <> endobj We thus conclude that Denton Publishing Co. is still controlling law. In his affidavit, Blow said that he wrote the column to express his opinion that it is troubling that society allows suicide to remain cloaked in secrecy and deception, and that secrecy about suicide leaves us greatly underestimating the danger of it. He also testified by deposition that if he discovered a deception, a misleading obituary, that's fair game for commentary. Additionally, Julie Hersh testified by deposition that she met with Blow before he published the column and that they were both outraged by the lack of discussion about suicide. What is the column's gist regarding the Tatums? Sch. In our view, this fact does not relate to the DMN's obituary services themselves, and thus it does not constitute information concerning those services, as is required by 17.46(b)(24). at 1019. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 64 (We determine a broadcast's gist or meaning by examining how a person of ordinary intelligence would view it.) (footnote omitted). This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Id. But the Tatums adduced evidence of more than a mere negligent investigation. denied) (mem.op.) Bankruptcy Admiralty & Maritime Law After the accident, he began sending incoherent text messages to friends. In that case, Dr. Neely was disciplined for self-prescribing medications, but a news broadcast about him could reasonably have been understood to report that he was actually disciplined for operating on patients while using dangerous drugs or controlled substances. The medical examiner ruled the teens death a suicide. They also argue that the column contains only nonactionable rhetorical hyperbole in the course of advocating societal change. Public figure status is a question of law for the court. Prac. The trial court later lifted the stay and again rendered a take-nothing summary judgment against the Tatums. In this context, negligence has two prongs: (1) the publisher knew or should have known that the defamatory statement was false, and (2) the factual misstatement's content was such that it would warn a reasonably prudent editor or broadcaster of its defamatory potential. Appellees' summary judgment motion argued that they conclusively negated the element of actual malice, that the Tatums could produce no evidence of actual malice, and that the Tatums could produce no evidence of negligence if that standard applied. We are not necessarily convinced that Knopf's first statement about Haynes was an unverifiable opinion. Health Care Law 73.002(b)(2). Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 114. dallas morning news v tatum oyezcash cars for sale memphis. And, for a matter to be a public controversy, its resolution must affect people beyond its immediate participants. 73.002(b)(1)(B). We construe an allegedly defamatory publication as a whole in light of the surrounding circumstances and based on how a person of ordinary intelligence would perceive it. We agree with the Tatums. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was neither true nor substantially true? (A publication is of and concerning the plaintiff if persons who knew and were acquainted with him understood from viewing the publication that the defamatory matter referred to him.). 73.002(b)(1)(B), and (ii) a reasonable and fair comment on or criticism of a matter of public concern published for general information, id. In cases not covered by these mandates, Texas has generally made truth an affirmative defense to defamation. I'm told there was a time when the word cancer was never mentioned. Blow testified that he did not review any documents regarding Paul's death or the car accident earlier that night, did not interview anyone with the Dallas Police Department or the medical examiner's office, and did not attempt to contact the Tatums before drafting the column. 73.001. Accordingly, neither a traditional nor a no-evidence summary judgment could properly be granted against the Tatums on the theory that the column was not about them. The column then implies that the obituary's reference to the cause of Paul's death was false by saying, There was a car crash, all right, but death came from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a time of remorse afterward. Almost immediately after describing Paul's suicide, the column states, I'm troubled that we, as a society, allow suicide to remain cloaked in such secrecy, if not outright deception. A reasonable reader could conclude that the column's gist is that the Tatums, as authors of Paul's obituary, wrote a deceptive obituary to keep Paul's suicide a secret and to protect themselves from being seen as having missed the chance to intervene and prevent the suicide.5. Posted By : / chsaa basketball rule book /; Under :international cultureinternational culture But appellees do not explain how the column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole. court opinions. We resolve this question in the Tatums' favor. To the contrary, the column's tone is generally sober, and it purports to be grounded in factual details such as the circumstances of Pillsbury's and Paul's deaths, data about the prevalence of suicide among young people, and Julie Hersh's public efforts to reduce the shame and stigma surrounding mental illness. We reject the Tatums' second appellate issue. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). In this context, actual malice means knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the falsity of a statement. DMN also asserted the following no-evidence grounds: There was no evidence that the Tatums were consumers. hbbd``b`@q?`]$^@' BD A:X %@b5$t.#'PFF 6 Id. "Walking along side you" | 24 Hour Line: 086 111 1380 | Essential Service provider, available to families during COVID 19 LOCK DOWN Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 66 n.12 (the distinctions among the varying burdens of proof as to truth or falsity are less material at summary judgment). Are the Tatums limited-purpose public figures? The column purported to support this gist with the factual assertion that Paul committed suicide out of remorse, implicitly calling the obituary's statement that Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident a lie. 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