Photo by: Dave Martin
(c) 2000 Associated Press
People gathering outside the Florida Supreme Court
by Katlyn Morahan
According to the Tampa Tribune, the Florida Supreme Court has made two recent decisions that have stopped people who live in Florida from suing newspapers for false light.
The first case was between Edith Rapp and Jews for Jesus. Rapp's stepson had alluded in the Jews for Jesus newsletter that his stepmother had become a convert to Christianity. Rapp claimed the writing portrayed her in a false light, however in the trial court Jews for Jesus argued that a reasonable person would not be offended by the description in the newsletter. The trial court and the Fourth District Court of Appeals agreed and said the content did not put Rapp in a false light. The Florida Supreme Court then ruled that false light claims could not be made in the state because of the vague concept.
The second case involved the Pensacola News Journal and road contractor Joe Anderson. The newspaper had published a story saying that while Anderson had been on probation for mail fraud, he shot his wife by accident resulting in her death. Anderson said the story cost him a well-paid contracting job and portrayed him in a false light. The trial court ruled for Anderson, but the First District Court of Appeals overturned the verdict. The Florida Supreme Court then used its earlier ruling from the Rapp case an rejected Anderson's appeal.
The recent decisions do not release Florida newspapers from the responsibility of not publishing defamatory statements, however the decisions will put an end to many of the trivial lawsuits Florida newspapers have recently had to defend.
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