Wanless v. Rothballer

JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, dissenting:

I dissent. I do not agree with the majority that the evidence was insufficient to sustain the finding, implicit in the jury’s verdict, that the statements published by defendants were made with actual malice. In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964), 376 U.S. 254 , 11 L. Ed. 2d 686 , 84 S. Ct. 710 , the Supreme Court said that a public official may not recover damages “for a defamatory falsehood relating to his official conduct unless he proves that the statement was made with ‘actual malice’ — that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” ( 376 U.S. 254, 279-80 , 11 L. Ed. 2d 686, 706 , 84 S. Ct. 710, 726 .) In my opinion, the evidence here was sufficient to show that these statements were made with reckless disregard of whether or not they were false. The evidence shows that the defendant reporter who prepared the articles obtained much of her information from other officials of the village whom she knew were opposed to plaintiff in a heated political campaign. She had available to her and reviewed the records of the village, including information obtained by the village board prior to concluding that no action by plaintiff resulted in a conflict of interest. Failure to check the information obtained from sources obviously hostile to plaintiff indicates a reckless disregard for whether the statements were false and refutes the conclusion of the majority that there was no reason to suspect the truth of the information v/hich she had obtained.

The managing editor of the defendant newspaper conceded that the procedure followed in deciding to publish the articles did not meet the usual standards of publication. The evidence shows clearly that the editors knew that the “sources” of the unfavorable statements were individuals who were politically opposed to plaintiff. Their failure to check the truthfulness of the charges was sufficient evidence to support the verdict awarding both compensatory and punitive damages. I am cognizant of the Supreme Court’s admonition that a court reviewing a libel judgment must make an independent review of the record. I am equally aware that the question whether defendants acted with reckless disregard of whether the statements contained in the articles were false was for the jury. Our independent review of the record does not authorize us to disregard a conclusion reached by the finder of fact and which is supported by the evidence. I therefore dissent and would reverse the appellate court and reinstate the judgment.