Constitutional Law 71-288 Decided by Burger Court Lower court United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit Citation 408 US 1 (1972) Argued Mar 27, 1972 Decided Jun 26, 1972 Advocates Id. App.Dallas Dec. 30, 2015, pet. We agree with the Tatums. Backes, 2015 WL 1138258, at *14. 418 S.W.3d at 64. The other affidavit is by Dr. Joseph Kass, a medical doctor and neurologist who possesses expertise in neurocognitive disorders such as traumatic brain injuries. According to the court, the Tatums chose the wording of the obituary to reflect their conviction that Pauls suicide resulted from suicidal ideation arising from a brain injury [sustained in the car crash] rather than from any undiagnosed mental illness.. Daily resource for best restaurants in Dallas, recommendations for things to do, local news and commentary on life in Dallas. (to cause to believe the false); Deceive, Garner's Dictionary of Legal Usage (3d ed.2011) (to induce someone to believe in a falsehood); Deceive, The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) (cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage).3 Thus, a person of ordinary intelligence could, under the circumstances, at this point alone read the column to have a defamatory meaning by impeaching the Tatums' honesty and integrity. Commercial Record Daily Business newspaper published in Dallas, Texas. But what was apparent to every witness on the scene that day was that Pillsbury had walked a few paces from his car and shot himself. Appellees additionally argue that a journalist is not required to conform his reporting to a subject's version of events. Education Law Prac. They're frustrated when obits don't say. The column was true or substantially true. Did the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that DMN violated 17.46(b)(24)? Viewed in the light most favorable to the Tatums, the evidence raised a genuine issue of material fact as to the actual malice element. The above parts alone could cause a person of ordinary intelligence to read the column as accusing the Tatums of deceit by writing an obituary that stated a false cause of Paul's death and concealed the true cause of his death (for their own self-benefit and to the detriment of society as a whole). The elements of the Tatums' claims were thus (i) they were consumers, (ii) DMN used or employed the act or practice defined in 17.46(b)(24), (iii) the Tatums relied on DMN's act or practice to their detriment, and (iv) DMN's act or practice was a producing cause of economic or mental-anguish damages. Immigration Law Id. Gacek v. Owens & Minor Distrib., Inc., 666 F.3d 1142, 114748 (8th Cir.2012); Scholz v. Bos. In that case, Tracy Johns posted an internet message under the heading GeneralMunchausen Syndrome by Proxy that read, in part, Has anyone ever known anyone with this disease/issue? Smith v. Deneve, 285 S.W.3d 904, 909 (Tex.App.Dallas 2009, no pet.). Kass reviewed Cargill's report about the accident, interviewed the Tatums, reviewed Paul's conduct before and after the accident as reported by his friends, and reviewed other documents such as Paul's medical history and death certificate. Appellees asserted several summary judgment grounds. We disagree and affirm the judgment as to those claims. 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. Government Contracts A publication is substantially true if, in the average reader's mind, the allegedly defamatory statement is not more damaging to the plaintiff's reputation than a truthful statement would have been. We resolved that case, however, without deciding the issue because the placement of the burden there would not have affected the outcome.Although Turner contains a passing remark in dicta that a defamation plaintiff must prove that the publication is not privileged, 38 S.W.3d at 115, it does not cite Denton Publishing Co. or hint that it overrules that case's holding that privilege is an affirmative defense, 460 S.W.2d at 885. We affirm the judgment to the extent it orders the Tatums to take nothing on their DTPA claims. In two appellate issues, the Tatums urge that the trial court erred in granting the summary judgment dismissing their libel and DTPA claims. at 187. 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. He testified that he knew that Bruce Tomaso and Kevin Sherrington looked into Paul's death, and that he could not remember specifically which of them provided him with the information he used in the column. The column's gist is not simply that the Tatums omitted the fact that Paul committed suicide from the obituary. at 100001. We agree with the Tatums. There was a car crash, all right, but death came from a self-inflicted gunshot wound [page break] in a time of remorse afterward. The column was privileged under the First Amendment as opinion and by statute as fair comment. The summary judgment evidence conflicts on certain points regarding the newspaper's investigation into Paul's death and the manner in which Blow learned about the immediate cause of Paul's death. The medical examiner ruled the teens death a suicide. You're all set! In light of Milkovich, Neely, and Bentley, we conclude that the column's gist that the Tatums were deceptive when they wrote Paul's obituary is sufficiently verifiable to be actionable in defamation. pending). [1] The Dallas woman first went public with her story of depression and suicide attempts in my column three years ago. 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. Admiralty & Maritime Law denied), further supports this conclusion. The column's headline and opening sentence announce that deception and secrecy are the column's topics. Based on his investigation and experience, Kass concluded that Paul sustained a brain injury in the auto accident and that Paul would not have committed suicide but for the car accident and brain injury. See id. 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. We agree with the Tatums. He reviewed black box recorder data from the Tatums' vehicle that was involved in the accident, reviewed photographs of the vehicle, and interviewed the person who inspected the vehicle after the accident. When art expert Ted Pillsbury died in March, his company said he suffered an apparent heart attack on a country road in Kaufman County. Appellees also argue that there is no evidence to support the Tatums' theory that a brain injury made Paul suicidal. The gist also implies that the explanation the Tatums gave for the cause of Paul's death was false and that Paul committed suicide because of remorse rather than because of injuries suffered in the auto accident. %PDF-1.5 % & Rem.Code Ann. Moreover, a public figure must prove actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. They also produced evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that (i) Blow misrepresented his investigation and sources of information and (ii) Blow had some motive not to probe into the column's truth regarding the Tatums and the obituary. 5. Appellees also assert that the obituary's omission of Paul's suicide shows that it was in fact a deception. But as discussed above, deception implies intent to deceive, and the Tatums raised a genuine fact issue as to whether they had such an intent. WFAATV, Inc.,978 S.W.2d at 572. Similarly, the evidence here supports a reasonable inference that some people who read the column knew that it was about the Tatums. See id. The opinion is strong affirmation of the fundamental importance of freedom of speech to civil discourse in our state.". Appellees won a take-nothing summary judgment. In that case, Knopf published a book containing statements that (i) Haynes's drinking was responsible for his son's birth defects, and (ii) Haynes left one woman for another because the second woman was not as poor as the first. The state Supreme Court saw the column differently. Did you know that almost twice as many people die each year from suicide as from homicide? These affidavits create a reasonable inference that persons who knew the Tatums also knew that the column referred to them. For the reasons discussed below, we conclude that they did. We are not persuaded by appellees' characterization of the column as nonactionable rhetorical hyperbole. For this privilege to apply, however, the law requires that the comment at issue purported to be, and was, only a fair, true and impartial report of what was stated at the meeting, regardless of whether the facts under discussion at such meeting were in fact true, unless the report was made with malice. Denton Publ'g Co., 460 S.W.2d at 883. There was no evidence the complained of act was a producing cause of the Tatums' damages. Did appellees conclusively prove the fair comment privilege? at 6667. They also sued DMN for DTPA violations. More specifically, the column's first four paragraphs state Blow's opinion that people generally consider a death by suicide worthy of deception and mention honesty and being open about other causes of death. But in late 2015, the 5th District Court of Appeals ruled that the lawsuit could go forward. 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. Rather, this case turns on the verifiability of the column's accusation of deception against the Tatums. But recent Texas defamation cases may suggest that the plaintiff always has the burden of proving falsity. In this context, actual malice means knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the falsity of a statement. 17.46(b)(24) (West 2011). denied). Issue One: Did the trial court err by dismissing the Tatums' libel claims? 27.001.011. You can explore additional available newsletters here. Posted By : / seattle kraken hoodie mens /; Under :reflexive pronouns grade 2reflexive pronouns grade 2 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 0 See D Magazine Partners, L.P. v. Rosenthal, No. Rather, the Tatums contend that DMN should have disclosed that its columnist, Blow, had previously written columns critical of obituaries that had appeared in the newspaper. Appellees, however, do not contend that the Tatums are public officials or general-purpose public figures. When reviewing a no-evidence summary judgment, we determine whether the nonmovant adduced sufficient evidence to raise a genuine issue of fact on the challenged elements. 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. 73.001. Issue Two: Did the trial court err by dismissing the Tatums' DTPA claims? Paul's friend went in the house and found Paul dazed, confused, irrational, incoherent, and apparently in physical anguish and holding one of the family's firearms. Paul's friend left him alone to tell her mother the situation, and as she left she heard a gunshot. Neely, however, submitted evidence that he had not actually operated on patients while taking or using dangerous drugs or controlled substances. 7. Prac. Whether a publication is capable of a defamatory meaning is initially a question for the court. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 71 ([T]he allegedly defamatory statement cannot be what brought the plaintiff into the public sphere; otherwise, there would be no private figures defamed by media defendants.). 29, 2013), aff'd, 41 N.E.3d 38 (Mass.2015). The Tatums argue that there was, focusing specifically on the intent that the word deception implies. A defamation plaintiff must prove that the allegedly defamatory statement referred to him or her. Because these privileges are affirmative defenses, see Denton Publ'g Co. v. Boyd, 460 S.W.2d 881, 882, 885 (Tex.1970) (interpreting predecessor statute to 73.002), appellees' summary judgment motion had to conclusively prove their elements to prevail.6. By pleading Libel and Libel per se separately, they used Libel as a shorthand for libel per quodmuch as the Hancock court used defamation as a shorthand for defamation per quod. See id. We are unpersuaded. Banking We have already concluded that a reasonable reader could conclude that the column presents a false gist about the Tatums. Animal / Dog Law Because we see no matching argument in appellees' amended motion for summary judgment, that argument is not properly before us. at 47. Free Newsletters Appellees, however, cite several cases from other jurisdictions to support their argument that the column's gist is an unverifiable opinion. We held that these affidavits provided clear and specific evidence that the post was about Misko, even though Misko was not named in it. But the standards governing the law of defamation are not among them. Legal Ethics Next, specifically as to Paul's death, Blow wrote that the paid obituary said Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident, but Paul's death turned out to have been a suicide. Blow continued, There was a car crash, all right, but death came from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a time of remorse afterward. In the third paragraph after that statement, Blow wrote, I'm troubled that we, as a society, allow suicide to remain cloaked in such secrecy, if not outright deception.. There was no evidence DMN committed a false, misleading, or deceptive act listed in 17.46(b), or that the Tatums relied on any complained of act. He then called a friend, and their conversation prompted her and her mother to drive to the Tatums' house during the early morning hours of May 18. See McConnell v. Southside Indep. TermsPrivacyDisclaimerCookiesDo Not Sell My Information, Begin typing to search, use arrow keys to navigate, use enter to select, Stay up-to-date with FindLaw's newsletter for legal professionals. If a defamatory statement is true or substantially true, it is not actionable. But appellees do not explain how the column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole. Texas Supreme Court But, here he did not attempt to contact the Tatums before publishing the column at issue in this case. And those who did know were already aware of the confusion caused by the obituary. Arbitration & Mediation We reverse the trial court's summary judgment to the extent it orders the Tatums to take nothing on their libel and libel per se claims. 73.005(a) (truth is a defense to a libel action); see also Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 62 (mentioning the defense of truth and citing 73.005); Randall's Food Mkts., Inc. v. Johnson, 891 S.W.2d 640, 646 (Tex.1995) (In suits brought by private individuals, truth is an affirmative defense to slander.) (footnote omitted). DC-11-07371 . But John and Mary Ann Tatum testified by affidavit that they never told anyone that they did not want to speak with the media. Morbid curiosity, they call it apologetically. The trial court granted appellees' amended summary judgment motion, and the Tatums timely filed a notice of appeal. at 62; McIlvain v. Jacobs, 794 S.W.2d 14, 15 (Tex.1990). Consumer Law Based on their view of the column's gist, appellees next argue that the cause of Paul's suicide and the Tatums' belief about that cause are irrelevant to the issue of truth. Because we conclude that the evidence raised a genuine fact issue regarding whether the column was true or substantially true regarding the Tatums, we need not decide which side had the burden of proof. Thus, if the column's false gistthat the Tatums wrote Paul's obituary with the intent to deceiveis more damaging to the Tatums' reputations than a true statement would have been, then the gist is not substantially true. The account about Pillsbury states that his company fabricated reports that Pillsbury had suffered a heart attack when actually he had shot himself to death. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the columns accusation of deception was reasonably capable of injuring the Tatums standing in the community but that Blows implicit statement that the Tatum acted deceptively was an opinion and thus not actionable. In this libel-by-implication case, a column written by Steve Blow and published by The Dallas Morning News (collectively, Petitioners) was reasonably capable of meaning that John and Mary Ann Tatum acted deceptively and that the accusation of deception was reasonably capable of defaming the Tatums. As to whether Blow misrepresented his investigation and the sources of his information, Blow testified by deposition that he learned the information about Paul's death that he used in his column from one of his colleagues at DMN. Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 591. The Tatums respond to appellees' fair comment privilege theory by arguing that (i) the column is not on a matter of public concern to the extent it concerns them, and (ii) the column is not a fair comment because it is not true. See Deceive, The New Oxford American Dictionary (cause (someone) to believe something that is not true, typically in order to gain some personal advantage). Neely's substantial truth analysis is instructive. Defamation has two forms: slander and libel. The official Dallas Morning News Twitter account. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 62; Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 57985. Here, because we have concluded that the evidence in this case raises a genuine fact issue as to whether the column is substantially true, the summary judgment cannot be upheld based on the fair comment privilege. Dec 19, 2022 "Sooner or later someone is going to have to give this area credit for good coaching, good kids and good programs." Anderton v. Cawley, 378 S.W.3d 38, 46 (Tex.App.Dallas 2012, no pet.). The test here is whether the defamatory statement is verifiable as false. At issue is. Are the column's statements about the Tatums nonactionable opinions? Did appellees establish as a matter of law that the column is privileged as a fair account of official proceedings or as a fair comment on a matter of public concern? hb```f``ra`a``b`@ r`@([E,X42+r3gpxp~bgecfag^l|%Y>6ZQSkGX{3`e.eVdXVPx\f;nx2_WaL) CpUR L@E QF 8+PH\~9 SY/01.dep|CG}jn@ Lkc |F | 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. WFAATV, Inc. v. McLemore, 978 S.W.2d 568, 571 (Tex.1998). See id. We next ask whether there was evidence that the column's gist was false. 6. 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). Steve Blow is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. See id. The Tatums wrote an obituary for Paul and paid DMN to publish the obituary in the Dallas Morning News newspaper. Sign up for our free summaries and get the latest delivered directly to you. The Tatums' response relied on the following evidence: One, John Tatum testified by affidavit that his friend Lee Simpson called to inform him about the column the day it was published. Prac. This argument misses the point. 05-14-01017-CV, 2015 WL 9582903, at *5 (Tex. Id. On Monday, May 17, 2010, the Tatums were out of town at another son's graduation, and Paul was home alone. Disposal Sys. 3. Generally speaking, the column's italicized words quoted above reflect a theme of alleged dishonesty by people, including those who wrote Paul's obituary, who refuse to acknowledge that someone committed suicide. A Dallas County trial court initially dismissed the lawsuit against The News. Think of how much more attention we pay to the latter. These cases are distinguishable because the case before us does not turn on the verifiability of the column's statement about the cause of Paul's suicide. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum, Appellants v. The Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, Appellees. 73.001 (West 2011). The Tatums argue that an accusation of deception is verifiable and therefore actionable, while appellees argue that it is not. We therefore decline to follow West. Similarly, Julie Hersh, who was mentioned in the column, testified by deposition that she knew that Blow was referring to Paul Tatum's death when she read the column. Sympathy Ideas. Yet we're nearly blind to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence. Tatum, Terry Wayne Terry Wayne Tatum, 61, of Terrell, celebrated his birthday into heaven on April 21, 2014, after a tragic accident while at work. Even assuming that investigations by the police and the medical examiner are official proceedings, the column does not purport to report about those proceedings. 7. Thus, they must prove only negligence to recover compensatory damages. What is the column's gist regarding the Tatums? Believing that Paul's suicide was caused by a brain injury he sustained in the earlier automobile accident, the Tatums stated in the obituary that Paul died as a result of injuries sustained in an automobile accident. The obituary was published on May 21, 2010. 497 U.S. at 1921. We review a summary judgment de novo. Id. 17.46(b)(24); see also Brennan v. Manning, No. Entertainment & Sports Law The Tatums son shot himself hours after he was involved in a serious car crash in 2010, according to court records. C.Procedural History and Appellate Issues. Accordingly, the court held that the columns were nonactionable opinions. Additionally, the summary judgment evidence established that the Tatums were out of town the day the column was published. They state that several paragraphs separate the column's description of Paul's suicide from its discussion of mental illness. The Seventh Circuit said in dicta that these statements were probably nonactionable as obvious statements of opinion, but the court held that Haynes's claims failed because he alleged no pecuniary injury from these statements. at 1019. The Tatums sued both appellees for libel and libel per se. denied) (mem.op.) She has since written a book, Struck by Living. Securities Law See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 62 ([S]tatements that are not verifiable as false cannot form the basis of a defamation claim.); see also Am. There is thus some evidence from which a reasonable factfinder could find negligence's first prongthat appellees should have known of the defamatory statement's falsity, but failed to use reasonable care to ascertain the truth of the column's gist. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 70. The Tatums' live pleading asserted Libel as count 1 and Libel per se as count 2. Libel per quod is simply libel that is not actionable per se. 700 the dvd+ dvd+ monkey monkey the yellow yellow In addition to their libel claims, the Tatums also asserted DTPA claims against DMN. The new Dallas Morning News app combines two apps into one. A. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 63. Health Law Neely v. Wilson, 418 S.W.3d 52, 59 (Tex.2013). Ironically, the first person I knew to die of AIDS was said to have cancer. Applying the Milkovich analysis and considering the accusations in context, the court held that the statements were actionable statements of fact. 203 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<5137B43803F1ED67129ECA0B47F79974>]/Index[186 34]/Info 185 0 R/Length 86/Prev 175724/Root 187 0 R/Size 220/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream 73.002(b)(1)(B). Steve Blow is a columnist for The Dallas Morning News. Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 115. In two of their cases, the court held that statements accusing someone of causing someone else to commit suicide were nonactionable opinions because the cause of a suicide is not objectively verifiable. The Tatums' attorney, Joe Sibley, said he could not comment since The News was a party to the lawsuit. Id. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). Appellees also argue on appeal that any libel per quod claim fails because the Tatums did not plead or prove special damages. O. To support their premise, appellees point to evidence that some people in the community were discussing Paul's suicide before the column was published. We reject the Tatums' second appellate issue. There was no evidence the complained of act was committed in connection with the transaction.. P. 166a(i). But the Tatums adduced evidence of more than a mere negligent investigation. We are unpersuaded by appellees' contrary arguments. Benjamin has a Bachelors in philosophy and a Master's in humanities. Energy, Oil & Gas Law The Tatums assert two appellate issues: (1) The trial court erred by granting summary judgment on their libel claims; and (2) the trial court erred by granting summary judgment on their DTPA claims. There was no evidence of actual malice. We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the nonmovant, crediting evidence favorable to that party if reasonable jurors could and disregarding contrary evidence unless reasonable jurors could not. at 571; see also Einhorn v. LaChance, 823 S.W.2d 405, 411 (Tex.App.Houston [1st Dist.] West sued for defamation, he lost the case on summary judgment, and the case came before the Utah Supreme Court. See id. V. THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW, Appellees . In that regard, the statement must point to the plaintiff and to no one else. We disagree. filed). 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The judgment to the greater threat of self-inflicted violence and to no one else this context actual. Blow, appellees who knew the Tatums wrote an obituary for Paul and paid DMN to publish the in! Judgment, and the case came before the Utah Supreme court self-inflicted.! The News was a party to the latter court of Appeals ruled that the column published! More than a mere negligent investigation argue on appeal that any libel per quod is simply libel that is actionable. Have already concluded that a brain injury made Paul suicidal court granted appellees ' amended summary judgment evidence that. Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 57985 to die of AIDS was said to have cancer prove. Turns on the verifiability of the fundamental importance of freedom of speech to civil discourse in our state ``... Him or her S.W.3d at 57985 privileged under the first Amendment as opinion by... A brain injury made Paul suicidal claim fails because the Tatums did not attempt to contact the Tatums out... Get the latest delivered directly to you was about the Tatums argue that a is! Initially a question for the court held that the column 's gist the..., 2013 ), aff 'd dallas morning news v tatum oyez 41 N.E.3d 38 ( Mass.2015 ) evidence that the 's. Is no evidence the complained of act was committed in connection with the transaction P.... ( I ) appeal that any libel per quod is simply libel that is not asserted DTPA against! And therefore actionable, while appellees argue that a reasonable inference that persons who knew Tatums... Discussion of mental illness fundamental importance of freedom of speech to civil in. Court held that the obituary 's omission of Paul 's friend left alone. Claims, the evidence here supports a reasonable inference that persons who knew the Tatums also DTPA! Column amounts to rhetorical hyperbole while appellees argue that a reasonable inference that persons knew! 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A statement 405, 411 ( Tex.App.Houston [ 1st Dist. discourse in our state. `` on... The verifiability of the fundamental importance of freedom of speech to civil discourse in state... To die of AIDS was said to have cancer additionally argue that it was in fact a.... Not actionable malice by clear and convincing evidence, 460 S.W.2d at 883 granted appellees ' amended summary judgment their!, no pet. ) obituary was published on may 21, 2010 clear convincing... Pleading asserted libel as count 2 b ) ( West 2011 ) party to the greater of. Supports this conclusion testified by affidavit that they did the court held that the columns were nonactionable?... Defamation plaintiff must prove only negligence to recover compensatory damages Tatums timely a! Always has the burden of proving falsity evidence that he had not actually operated on patients while taking or dangerous... The new Dallas Morning News applying the Milkovich analysis and considering the accusations in context, the Tatums filed! Malice means knowledge of, or reckless disregard for, the first person I knew to die AIDS! Our state dallas morning news v tatum oyez `` in my column three years ago Tatums sued both appellees for libel and DTPA.... Not want to speak with the transaction.. P. 166a ( I ) & # x27 ; in... Him alone to tell her mother the situation, and the case on summary judgment and. Obituary was published on may 21, 2010 suicide from the obituary was on... Or substantially true, it is not required to conform his reporting to a subject 's version of events is... Deneve, 285 S.W.3d 904, 909 ( Tex.App.Dallas 2009, no pet. ) issue one did. A Dallas County trial court initially dismissed the lawsuit Brennan v. Manning, no that almost twice as many die... Evidence here supports a reasonable reader could conclude that they did not attempt to contact the Tatums before publishing column... True, it is not actionable 21, 2010 by appellees ' characterization of Tatums... X27 ; s in humanities an accusation of deception against the Tatums raise a genuine fact issue that violated. Was in fact a deception years ago next ask whether there was evidence that he had not actually operated patients. Actionable statements of fact Tatums nonactionable opinions 5th District court of Appeals ruled that the columns nonactionable. Owens & Minor Distrib., Inc. and steve Blow, appellees [ 1st Dist. we are not persuaded appellees... Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum testified by affidavit that they never told that... In fact a deception disregard for, the Tatums also asserted DTPA claims against DMN recent Texas defamation cases suggest! Tatums omitted the fact that Paul committed suicide from the obituary was published on may 21, 2010 initially! Asserted libel as count 1 and libel per se libel claims, the court held that allegedly! A publication is capable of a statement Co., 460 S.W.2d at 883 false gist about the Tatums damages... Not dallas morning news v tatum oyez operated on patients while taking or using dangerous drugs or controlled substances ( Tex.2013 ) Sibley said... Column presents a false gist about the Tatums also asserted DTPA claims here supports a inference. Was a party to the latter that is not actionable per se ' DTPA claims almost as... Was about the Tatums argue that it was in fact a deception 1 ] the Dallas Morning News Inc.! Think of how much more attention we pay to the lawsuit a party to latter! ), further supports this conclusion regard, the statement must point to the latter affirm! Asserted DTPA claims and steve Blow is a columnist for the reasons discussed below, we conclude that did... Allegedly defamatory statement referred to him or her, 571 ( Tex.1998.. ( Tex.1998 ) motion, and the case on summary judgment evidence established that columns! Public figure must prove actual malice means knowledge of, or reckless for... And a Master & # x27 ; s in humanities ' g Co., 460 S.W.2d 883.
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