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NOTICE: This opinion is subject to motions for rehearing under Rule 22 as well as formal revision before publication in the New Hampshire Reports. Readers are requested to notify the Reporter, Supreme Court of New Hampshire, One Charles Doe Drive, Concord, New Hampshire 03301, of any editorial errors in order that corrections may be made before the opinion goes to press. Errors may be reported by E-mail at the following address: reporter@courts.state.nh.us. Opinions are available on the Internet by 9:00 a.m. on the morning of their release. The direct address of the court's home page is: http://www.courts.state.nh.us/supreme. THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW HAMPSHIRE ___________________________

Hillsborough-southern judicial district No. 2009-828

DEAN J. WATERFIELD v. MEREDITH CORPORATION & a. Submitted: January 6, 2011 Opinion Issued: April 14, 2011 Randy A. Britton, non-lawyer representative appearing by approval of the Supreme Court under Rule 33(2), on the brief, for the plaintiff.

Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green, P.A., of Manchester (James P. Harris and Daniel K. Fink on the brief), for the defendants.

CONBOY, J. The plaintiff, Dean J. Waterfield, appeals an order of the Superior Court (Barry, J.) granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants, Meredith Corporation, John Doe Anchorperson(s), and John Doe On-Site Reporter. We affirm in part, reverse in part, and remand. The trial court found or the record supports the following facts. In March 2001, the plaintiff married Stephanie Waterfield. The couple lived in Sterling, Connecticut. In September of that year, Ms. Waterfield died. At that

time, the plaintiff was incarcerated in Connecticut. After his release, he was appointed administrator of his wife's estate by a Connecticut probate court. As a consequence of his management of the estate, however, he was subsequently removed as administrator and charged with various crimes. On August 8, 2003, the plaintiff was arrested in Nashua and soon after extradited to Connecticut. On August 24, 2003, WSFB-TV, a Connecticut television station owned by the Meredith Corporation, an Iowa corporation, ran a news story about the plaintiff's handling of his wife's estate. At that time, the plaintiff was again incarcerated in Connecticut. Nearly three years later, on August 21, 2006, the plaintiff filed suit in superior court alleging, among other things, that the story defamed him. The defendants moved for summary judgment on two grounds: (1) that the plaintiff's defamation claim is foreclosed because a Connecticut probate court found the contents of the news story to be substantially true; and (2) that the plaintiff's action is barred by Connecticut's two-year statute of limitations. The plaintiff, in response, argued that the Connecticut probate court's ruling is not a final, valid judgment for purposes of res judicata or collateral estoppel, and that the action is timely because New Hampshire's three-year statute of limitations is controlling. The trial court concluded that the plaintiff was not a resident of New Hampshire at the time he filed suit and had in fact "maintained the New Hampshire address for the sole purpose of filing this suit because the statute of limitations had expired in the other potential jurisdictions." Further, it found that the plaintiff's cause of action did not arise in this state because the broadcast's television signal did not reach New Hampshire. Applying the choice-of-law factors set forth in Clark v. Clark, 107 N.H. 351, 353-55 (1966), and Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 131 N.H. 6, 13 (1988), the trial court determined that Connecticut's limitations period, Conn. Gen. Stat.

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