07-4153 JOHN MOLL and KATHERINE MOLL v. MARK BLAIR and PAULINE BLAIR and FLORIDA FREEDOM NEWSPAPERS, INC.

State: Florida

Court: Florida First District Court

Docket No: 07-4153

Case Date: 06/10/2008

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA JOHN MOLL and KATHERINE MOLL, Appellants, CASE NO. 1D07-4153 v. MARK BLAIR and PAULINE BLAIR and FLORIDA FREEDOM NEWSPAPERS, INC., Appellees. ___________________________/ Opinion filed June 10, 2008. An appeal from the Circuit Court for Okaloosa County. William F. Stone, Judge. J. Stanley Chapman and Judson H. Orrick of Equels Law Firm, Tallahassee, for Appellants. John A. Bussian of The Bussian Law Firm, PLLC, and Harry E. Barr of Chesser & Barr, P.A., Shalimar, for Appellees. Gregg D. Thomas and James J. McGuire of Thomas & LoCicero PL, Tampa, and Mark J. Prak and Charles E. Coble of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, Raleigh for Amici Curiae Southern Newspaper Publishers Association and The Florida Press Association. NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF FILED

PER CURIAM. Appellants, John and Katherine Moll, seek review of a Final Summary

Judgment entered in favor of Appellee, Florida Freedom Newspapers, Inc., that dismissed Appellants' claims for false light invasion of privacy and defamation. Because Appellants' false light claim overlaps defamation, it must be treated the same way. See Gannett Co. v. Anderson, 947 So. 2d 1, 8 (Fla. 1st DCA 2006) ("To the extent that false light invasion of privacy overlaps defamation, it must be treated the same way. Otherwise, the relatively short statute of limitations and other strict requirements in the law of defamation would have no effect at all."), review granted Anderson v. Gannett Co., 954 So. 2d 1155 (Fla. 2007). As such, Appellee's defamation defenses, which preclude the defamation claim, also preclude Appellants' false light claim. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the Final Summary Judgment. WEBSTER, DAVIS, and HAWKES, JJ., CONCUR.

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