Fla. High Court Nixes 'False Light' Claims Against Papers
In a pair of rulings Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court ruled that newspapers can’t be sued for putting people in a “false light” with their reporting.
Such a cause of action doesn’t exist in the state, the court held.
One of the rulings favors Gannett Co. Inc. and the Pensacola News Journal in a case in which a road builder initially won an $18 million verdict. A state appeals court reversed the 2003 verdict, and Thursday’s ruling upholds the reversal. According to several reports, including this Associated Press account, the paper reported that Joe Anderson “shot and killed” his wife, then two sentences later noted that authorities considered the death a hunting accident. Anderson had argued that while the story was accurate, the tone and wording cast him in a false light.
The other case involved the stepmother of a Jews for Jesus member, who accused the organization of casting her in a false light. The stepson had written an article for the Jews for Jesus Internet newsletter that Edith Rapp, who is Jewish, had joined Jews for Jesus or agreed with its tenets or philosophy, the AP reports.
“We conclude that false light is largely duplicative of existing torts but without the attendant protections of the First Amendment,” Justice Barbara Pariente, who wrote both opinions, said for the 4-1 majority in Jews for Jesus v. Edith Rapp, the Daily Business Review reports.
