5D00-1996 Carson v. News-Journal

State: Florida

Court: Florida Fifth District Court

Docket No: 5D00-1996 Carson

Case Date: 06/11/2001

Preview:IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FIFTH DISTRICT JANUARY TERM 2001 KIT CARSON, Appellant, v. NEWS-JOURNAL CORPORATION, AND TIPPEN DAVIDSON, Appellee. _______________________________/ Opinion filed June 15, 2001 Appeal from the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Joseph G. Will, Judge. Kevin Kitpatrick Carson, of Kevin "Kit" Carson, P.A., Daytona Beach, pro se. Jonathan D. Kaney, Jr., Bruce A. Hanna, and Jonathan D. Kaney, III, of Cobb, Cole & Bell, Daytona Beach, for Appellee. PER CURIAM In this defamation action, Kit Carson appeals the final summary judgment entered in favor of the News-Journal Corporation and Tippen Davidson, the newspaper's chief executive officer (collectively News-Journal). We affirm. In his complaint, Carson alleged that the News-Journal defamed him when it published news stories and editorial statements relating to his 1996 candidacy for the office of Public Defender and his 1998 candidacy for county judge. The complaint alleged that fourteen statements published by the News-Journal were defamatory. The News-Journal defended on three grounds: (1) certain CASE NO. 5D00-1996

statements were not susceptible of possessing a defamatory meaning; (2) certain statements were expressions of pure opinion; and (3) certain statements were privileged as being fair reports of official records. The trial court ruled that none of the fourteen statements were actionable. We agree. Only one of the claims of error raised by Carson in this appeal merits discussion; namely, his claim that certain articles printed by the News-Journal relating to the circumstances surrounding two instances when he was discharged from his employment were not protected under the fair reports privilege. The articles at issue were based upon information contained in two public documents from Florida's Bureau of Unemployment Compensation (Bureau). The fair reports privilege requires that, in order to be privileged, a news report of a public document must contain the substance of the subject the document undertakes to present, or any separable part thereof. See Restatement (Second) of Torts,

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