See Hancock v. Variyam, 400 S.W.3d 59, 64 (Tex.2013) (Defamation per quod is defamation that is not actionable per se. Id. 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). 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. 12, 2007, pet. at 62 ([S]tatements that are not verifiable as false cannot form the basis of a defamation claim.); see also Bentley v. Bunton, 94 S.W.3d 561, 57985 (Tex.2002) (accusations that a judge was corrupt were sufficiently verifiable to constitute actionable statements of fact). In the ePaper section, youll find: A digital replica of the print edition to give you all the news you need each day Additional ePaper-only bonus content, including extra comics and puzzles Constitutional Law Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. 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. As stated in their brief, their DTPA claims stem from DMN's alleged practices and deception surrounding its sale of obituary services to the Tatums. They argue that the information DMN failed to disclose was Mr. Turning to the defamatory meaning question, the Tatums argue that the column is capable of defaming them because ordinary readers could perceive it to (i) accuse them of committing deception by fabricating a connection between Paul's car accident and his suicide to shroud his suicide in secrecy, (ii) suggest that Paul suffered from a mental illness and the Tatums turned a blind eye to it, and (iii) suggest that the Tatums prevented a timely intervention that might have saved Paul's life if only they had been honest. 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. See id. But Tomaso and Sherrington were also deposed, and they both testified that they did not remember having a conversation with Blow about Paul's death. In that regard, the statement must point to the plaintiff and to no one else. See Tex. padres scout team 2025; what did william engesser die of; assassin's creed odyssey entrance to In four issues, appellant contends (1) the trial court erred by granting appellees objections to certain summary judgment evidence; (2) the trial court erred by denying appella Joseph D. Sibley IV, Houston, TX, for appellants. Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. Trusts & Estates 284, 339 S.W.2d 890, 893 (1960). at 10, 110 S.Ct. Education Law This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google. 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. 16-0098 (Tex. They also sued DMN for DTPA violations. STANDARD OF REVIEW. court opinions. Appellees, however, cite several cases from other jurisdictions to support their argument that the column's gist is an unverifiable opinion. Mar. We therefore do not address whether those categories apply here. In May 2010, Paul was a seventeen-year-old high school student. We remand the case for further proceedings consistent with this opinion. But because the accusation was an opinion, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Petitioners. 475 S.W.3d at 481 n. 6, 2015 WL 5156908, at *6 n. 6. In re Lipsky, 460 S.W.3d 579, 593 (Tex.2015) (orig.proceeding). ). One expert explained the severity of Paul's auto accident, and the other opined that Paul committed suicide because of a brain injury sustained in that accident. Animal / Dog Law WebOpinion for John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum v. the Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow Brought to you by Free Law Project, a non-profit dedicated to creating high quality open legal information. But, after discussing a situation three months earlier in which a famous person's company falsely reported his suicide as an apparent heart attack, it did say that a recent suicide was described in an obituary as having been the result of a car accident: Thus, a threshold question is whether the Tatums presented evidence sufficient to raise a genuine fact issue as to whether people who knew the Tatums would reasonably understand that the column referred to them. (describing general-purpose public figures as those who have achieved such pervasive fame or notoriety as to be public figures for all purposes). See DuncanHubert v. Mitchell, 310 S.W.3d 92, 103 (Tex.App.Dallas 2010, pet. Id. Paul C. Watler, James C. McFall III, Shannon Zmud Teicher, Dallas, TX, for appellees. WebThe Dallas Morning News, Inc., and Steve BlowAppeal from 68th Judic John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum v. The Dallas Morning News, Inc., and Steve BlowAppeal from 68th Judicial District Court of Dallas County (memorandum opinion per curiam) Annotate this Case Download PDF 1207, 179 L.Ed.2d 172 (2011) (internal quotations and citations omitted). The plaintiff must also prove damages unless the defamatory statements are defamatory per se. We next consider appellees' summary judgment ground that the column contains only nonactionable opinions. WebDallas Morning News, Inc. v. Tatum (Unanimous) Annotate this Case. The trial court later lifted the stay and again rendered a take-nothing summary judgment against the Tatums. It is ORDERED that appellees THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS, INC. AND STEVE BLOW recover their costs of this appeal from appellants JOHN TATUM AND MARY ANN TATUM. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 62 ; Bentley, 94 S.W.3d at 57985. WebTatum v. Dallas Morning News, Inc. is a case the Supreme Court of Texas will decide this term, involving two parents who were accused by a columnist at the Dallas Morning News 07060041CV, 2007 WL 1098476, at *4 (Tex.App.Amarillo Apr. 497 U.S. at 1921, 110 S.Ct. Because the evidence raises a genuine fact issue that the column's gist was neither true nor substantially true, appellees' traditional and no-evidence summary judgment grounds addressing truth and substantial truth cannot support the trial court's judgment. Speech deals with matters of public concern when it can be fairly considered as relating to any matter of political, social, or other concern to the community or when it is a subject of legitimate news interest; that is, a subject of general interest and of value and concern to the public. Snyder v. Phelps, 562 U.S. 443, 453, 131 S.Ct. Turner, 38 S.W.3d at 114. at 187. We therefore decline to follow West. We affirm the judgment to the extent it orders the Tatums to take nothing on their DTPA claims. If you have STRONG suspicions to whom do you turn them over? Id. Honesty is the first step. By juxtaposing Paul's story with this discussion, the column invites the reader to associate Paul's suicide with mental illness and the Tatums with those who do not engage in life saving frank discussion and timely intervention. The closing line, Honesty is the first step, also invites the reader to contrast honesty with a dishonest obituary published about Paul's death. WebThey have imagination and don't like planning things in advance. See Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61. Class Action Heritage Capital, LP v. Gonzalez, 436 S.W.3d 865, 875 (Tex.App.Dallas 2014, no pet.) 2695, 111 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990) ; Phila. Although the column does not expressly make these assertions, roughly the last third of the column discusses the prevalence of suicide (specifically among young people), laments public silence about suicide's frequent cause (mental illness), and concludes, Awareness, frank discussion, timely intervention, treatmentthose are the things that save lives. 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.. Tobacco Co. v. Grinnell, 951 S.W.2d 420, 425 (Tex.1997). He made his way home from the accident scene and began drinking champagne. 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). 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. Later in the opinion, the Court held that the defendant's statement that Milkovich committed perjury was sufficiently factual to be susceptible of being proved true or false. Id. 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. Former Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow wrote a column for more straight-talk about suicide after the death of Dallas teen Paul Tatum. There was a page break in the middle of the column, and a slightly different headline appeared over the remainder of the column when it resumed on another page: Shrouding suicide in secrecy leaves its danger unaddressed. The column, with emphasis added, stated as follows: The Tatums sued Julie Hersh in a separate lawsuit. 94 S.W.3d at 583. Because the evidence in Neely raised a genuine fact issue as to whether a news broadcast was substantially true, the court held that the defendants were not entitled to summary judgment based on the fair comment privilege. 73.001. 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. John Tatum and Mary Ann Tatum v. the Dallas Morning News, Inc. and Steve Blow, 05-14-01017-CV (Tex. These affidavits create a reasonable inference that persons who knew the Tatums also knew that the column referred to them. See Civ. Nonetheless, a journalist may not omit and juxtapose facts in such a way as to make the facts reported convey a false gist or meaning. Sysco Food Servs., Inc. v. Trapnell, 890 S.W.2d 796, 800 (Tex.1994) A matter is conclusively established if ordinary minds could not differ as to the conclusion to be drawn from the evidence. In re Estate of Hendler, 316 S.W.3d 703, 707 (Tex.App.Dallas 2010, no pet.). The Tatums purchased a space in the Dallas Morning News to publish an obituary for their son. The court then vacated its judgment and stayed the case pending the resolution of a defamation case then pending in the Texas Supreme Court. By every indication, he was a talented young man with a bright future. On that occasion, he said, he attempted to contact the author of one of the obituaries. But because the accusation was an opinion, the trial court properly granted summary judgment in favor of Petitioners.The Tatum filed suit alleging libel and libel per se against Petitioners alleging that the column at issue defamed them. 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. 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. Texas Supreme Court dismisses defamation lawsuit against The Dallas Morning News John and Mary Ann Tatum, whose 17-year-old son shot himself, sued The That is, as Neely illustrates, enough to raise a genuine fact issue on the fair comment privilege. Backes, 486 S.W.3d at 2527, 2015 WL 1138258, at *14. Legal Ethics We assume without deciding that the defamatory publication in this case generally involved a matter of public concern (preventing suicides), and the Tatums do not dispute that appellees are media defendants. Accordingly, the court held that the columns were nonactionable opinions. 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. After the accident, he began sending incoherent text messages to friends. Appellees make a threshold argument that the Tatums must satisfy the standard for libel per se because they did not plead or prove libel per quod or special damages. If a publication is of ambiguous or doubtful import, however, the jury must determine its meaning. His testimony demonstrates his training and expertise in the field of accident reconstruction. Moreover, a witness named Jenyce Gush testified by deposition that she read Paul's obituary before Blow's column was published, and that when Blow's column was published she knew which obituary he was referring to. (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). 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. There was also evidence from which a reasonable jury could find that a proper investigation would have revealed that the Tatums had a good faith belief that Paul's death was in fact caused by injuries sustained in a car accident. of Tex., Inc. v. Tex. Rhetorical hyperbole is extravagant exaggeration employed for rhetorical effect. 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. 05-14-01017-CV, 2015 WL 9582903, at *5 (Tex. This meaning is defamatory because it tends to injure the Tatums' reputations and to expose them to public hatred, contempt, or ridicule. Construction Law Subscribe to Justia's 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). We are not persuaded by appellees' characterization of the column as nonactionable rhetorical hyperbole. Prac. Prac. 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). We conclude that the evidence raised a genuine fact issue as to negligence. Civil Procedure We also conclude that the evidence raises a genuine fact issue as to actual malice. dallas morning news v tatum summary what colors do wasps like. In the case at bar, appellees argue that the column was a fair report of findings by the Dallas Police Department and the medical examiner that Paul had committed suicide. See id. Although the West court acknowledged and purported to apply the Milkovich analysis, it disregarded Milkovich 's conclusions that accusing a person of being a liar or committing perjury can be sufficiently verifiable to constitute an actionable statement of fact rather than a nonactionable opinion. featuring summaries of federal and state The truth of the column's gist hinges on whether the Tatums intended to deceive when they wrote the obituary, not necessarily on the strength of the scientific evidence supporting their belief about the cause of Paul's suicide. WebIN THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS No. All service and technical issues must go through our Customer Service Center. Herald, Inc., No. Copyright Am. 1558, 89 L.Ed.2d 783 (1986). Libel per quod is simply libel that is not actionable per se. Smith v. Deneve, 285 S.W.3d 904, 909 (Tex.App.Dallas 2009, no pet.). Similarly, in Bentley the Texas Supreme Court considered whether repeated statements that a particular judge was corrupt were nonactionable statements of opinion. In two appellate issues, the Tatums urge that the trial court erred in granting the summary judgment dismissing their libel and DTPA claims. 1 of Dallas County, Texas, to: Dana Goodwin. See id. Neely, 418 S.W.3d at 61 ; WFAATV, Inc. v. McLemore, 978 S.W.2d 568, 571 (Tex.1998). Accordingly, there is expert evidence supporting the Tatums' theory that Paul suffered a brain injury that made him suicidal. The column's gist is not simply that the Tatums omitted the fact that Paul committed suicide from the obituary. Paul Tatum was the son of John and Mary Ann Tatum.At seventeen years old, Paul was a smart, popular, and athletic high-school student. Heritage Capital, 436 S.W.3d at 875. Id. You're all set! We reject the Tatums' second appellate issue. 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