Truth Remains An Absolute Defense Against Defamation Claims

• Published date: 04 August 2022
• Subject Matter: Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration, Trials & Appeals & Compensation, Libel & Defamation
• Law Firm: Venable LLP
• Author: Mr Lee S. Brenner and Jonathan A. Mireles

A Michigan State Court recently dismissed claims against Euclid Media Group, the parent company to several media properties, including Deadline Detroit, Inc. ("Deadline"), for publishing articles about a Plaintiff's conduct at a Birmingham Public School Board of Education meeting. See Paul Marcum vs. Euclid Media Group, Docket No. 2022-191878-CZ (Mich. Cir. Ct. Jan. 4, 2022) (Dkt. 129) ("Order").

On August 23, 2021, Deadline published an article, "Man Who Gave Nazi Salute at Birmingham Schools Meeting Loses Tennis Job" (the "Article"). The Article asserted that Plaintiff had gestured and uttered a Nazi salute toward two African American women and a Jewish woman who had voiced their support for a classroom mask mandate. The Article not only identified Plaintiff by name, but it also included his picture and stated Plaintiff had been "accused of flashing a Nazi salute and repeatedly chanting 'Heil Hitler.'"

On January 4, 2022, Plaintiff filed a lawsuit against Euclid and four of its media properties, including Deadline, for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, tortious intrusion, tortious publication, false light, and injunctive relief. Plaintiff also alleged he had lost his job and had been labeled as a "KKK member" and a "Nazi" because of Euclid and Deadline's publications.

Deadline filed a motion for summary disposition as to all claims, arguing Plaintiff had failed to allege any specific, materially false statement about him in the Article. Under Michigan law, a court may grant a motion for summary disposition only when the alleged claims contained in the pleadings are "so clearly unenforceable as a matter of law that no factual development could possibly justify recovery." Maiden v. Rozwood, 461 Mich. 109, 119 (1999).

The Court agreed with Deadline. It held that Plaintiff had "failed to allege with specificity any false statement published by [Deadline]." Order at p. 3. Specifically, Plaintiff did not dispute that he had given the Nazi salute, and he conceded he had indeed lost his job. In other words, the Article's statements were accurate, and it has long been settled that "truth, whenever discovered, is a complete defense" against a defamation claim. Washer v. Bank of Am. Nat'l Tr. & Sav. Ass'n, 87 Cal. App. 2d 501, 509 (1948); see also Francis v. Dun & Bradstreet, Inc., 3 Cal. App. 4th 535, 539-41 (1992) ("[P]laintiffs admit all the statements are true.. We wonder how plaintiffs (or their attorneys) could have ever thought that...