In the Supreme Court of the State of Idaho James Verity
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IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF IDAHO JAMES VERITY and SARAHNA VERITY, husband and wife, Supreme Court Docket No. 45530-2017 Plaintiffs/Respondents, Ada County No. CVOC-20 16-6185 vs. USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; KTVB, a division of King Broadcasting Company a Washington corporation; KGW, a division of Sander Operating Co. lll, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company; TAMI TREMBLAY, an individual; STEPHEN REILLY, an individual; and JO HN I JANE DOES, Defendants/Appellants. BRIEF OF AMICI CURIAE The Associated Press, The Hearst Corporation, and The Idaho Press Club Proposed additional amici: Adams Publishing Group, Advance Publications, The American Society of News Editors, BuzzFeed, The Center for Investigative Reporting, CNN, Dow Jones & Company, The E.W. Scripps Company, First Look Media, Forbes, Gray Television, The Idaho Statesman, Landmark Media Enterprises, The Medin Institute, Meredith Corporation, The National Association of Broadcasters, The News Media Alliance, The New York Times Company, POLITICO, The Reporters' Committee for Freedom of the Press, The Radio and Television Di2ital News Association, The Society for Professional Journalists, tronc, and The Wnshin2ton Post Appeal from the District Court of the Fourth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, in and for the County of Ada, Honorable Melissa Moody, District Judge, Presiding Debora K. Kristensen Ronald R. Shepherd Kersti H. Kennedy SHEP LAW GROUP GIVENS PURSLEY LLP 1990 North Meridian Road 601 West Bannock Street Meridian, ID 83642 Boise, ID 83701-2720 Counsel for Respondents James Verity and Counsel for Appellants USA Today, KTVB, Sarahna Verity KGW, Tami Tremblay and Stephen Reilly Lee Levine Charles A. Brown Alia Smith Attorney at Law BALLARD SPAHR LLP 324 Main Street 1909 K Street Northwest, 12'" Floor Lewiston, ID 83501 Washington, DC 20006 Counsel f or Amici Curiae Counsel f or Amici Curiae TABLE OF CONTENTS Page TABLE OF AUTHORITIES .......................................................................................................... ii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................ 1 THE LOWER COURT’S DECISION ............................................................................................ 4 ARGUMENT .................................................................................................................................. 6 I. Because Defamation-By-Implication Claims Based on the Reporting of Accurate Facts About Matters of Public Concern Necessarily Implicate First Amendment Freedoms, Several States Have Declined to Recognize Such a Cause of Action ................................ 7 II. If this Court Does Decide to Recognize a Cause of Action for Defamation-by- Implication, the Scope of the Tort Should be Narrowly and Precisely Defined to Safeguard Truthful Speech About Public Matters ............................................................ 12 A. The Threshold Determination ........................................................................................ 12 B. The Fact-Based Determination ....................................................................................... 19 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 24 APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................... 25 i TABLE OF AUTHORITIES Page(s) CASES Abadian v. Lee, 117 F. Supp. 2d 481 (D. Md. 2000) ...................................................................................13, 14 Biro v. Conde Nast, 883 F. Supp. 2d 441 (S.D.N.Y. 2012) ..........................................................................10, 14, 18 Chapin v. Knight-Ridder, Inc., 993 F.2d 1087 (4th Cir. 1993) .....................................................................................12, 14, 22 Collins v. WAFB, LLC, 2017 WL 1383948 (E.D. La. Apr. 18, 2017) .............................................................................9 Denver Publishing Co. v. Bueno, 54 P.3d 893 (Colo. 2002) .........................................................................................................11 Deripaska v. Associated Press, 282 F. Supp. 3d 133 (D.D.C. 2017) .........................................................................................14 Diesen v. Hessburg, 455 N.W.2d 446 (Minn. 1990)...................................................................................................9 Dobkin v. Johns Hopkins University, 172 F.3d 43 (4th Cir. 1999) .....................................................................................................11 Dodds v. American Broadcasting Co., 145 F.3d 1053 (9th Cir. 1998) .................................................................................................20 Duncan v. Gilead Sciences, Inc., 2011 WL 1807017 (S.D.W. Va. May 9, 2011) ........................................................................14 Fitzgerald v. Tucker, 737 So. 2d 706 (La. 1999) .........................................................................................................9 Garrison v. Louisiana, 379 U.S. 64 (1964) ...................................................................................................................19 Godbehere v. Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., 783 P.2d 781 (Ariz. 1989)........................................................................................................11 ii Heyward v. Credit Union Times, 913 F. Supp. 2d 1165 (D.N.M. 2012) ......................................................................................14 Hoskins v. Howard, 971 P.2d 1135 (1998) ...............................................................................................................11 Jacobson v. CBS Broadcasting, Inc., 19 N.E.3d 1165, 1178 (Ill. App. Ct. 2014) ........................................................................20, 22 Janklow v. Newsweek, Inc., 788 F.2d 1300 (8th Cir. 1986) .................................................................................................23 Jews for Jesus, Inc. v. Rapp, 997 So. 2d 1098 (Fla. 2008).....................................................................................................11 Kavanagh v. Zwilling, 578 F. App’x 24 (2d Cir. 2014) ...............................................................................................14 Kendall v. Daily News Publishing Co., 716 F.3d 82 (3d Cir. 2013)...........................................................................................19, 20, 23 Lake v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 582 N.W.2d 231 (Minn. 1998).................................................................................................11 Leddy v. Narragansett Television, L.P., 843 A.2d 481 (R.I. 2004) .........................................................................................................14 Mihalik v. Duprey, 417 N.E.2d 1238 (Mass. Ct. App. 1981) ...................................................................................9 New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964) .............................................................................................................1, 19 Newton v. National Broadcasting Co., 930 F.2d 662 (9th Cir. 1990) .............................................................................................19, 22 Nichols v. Moore, 477 F.3d 396 (6th Cir. 2007) .............................................................................................19, 21 Partington v. Bugliosi, 56 F.3d 1147 (9th Cir. 1995) ...................................................................................................13 iii Puckett v. American Broadcasting Cos., 917 F.2d 1305 (6th Cir. 1990) .................................................................................................11 Revil v. Coleman, 54 N.E.3d 608 (Mass. App. Ct. 2016) .....................................................................................18 Rinsley v. Brandt, 700 F.2d 1304 (10th Cir. 1983) ...............................................................................................10 Royal Palace Homes, Inc. v. Channel 7 of Detroit, Inc., 495 N.W.2d 392 (Mich. Ct. App. 1992) ..................................................................................14 Rubin v. U.S. News & World Report, 271 F.3d 1305 (11th Cir. 2000) ...............................................................................................13 Saenz v. Playboy Enterprises, Inc., 841 F.2d 1309 (7th Cir. 1988) .................................................................................................19 Schaefer v. Lynch, 406 So. 2d 185 (La. 1981) .........................................................................................................9 Schifano v. Greene County Greyhound Park, Inc., 624 So. 2d 178 (Ala. 1993) ......................................................................................................11 Stepanov v. Dow Jones & Co., 120 A.D.3d 28 (N.Y. App. Div. 2014) ..............................................................................13, 14 Time, Inc. v. Hill, 385 U.S. 374 (1967) .................................................................................................................11