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Meyer Land & Cattle Co. v. Lincoln County Conservation Dist.9/14/2001
an. App. 2d 606, 608, 933 P.2d 787 (1997).
Analyzing the entire pleading, we discern three distinct causes of action: defamation, tortious interference, and civil conspiracy. Meyer also asserts on appeal that there is present a claim based upon federal equal protection rights. Meyer raises a number of other counts set out as independent torts which are, in essence, one or more elements of the core claims. The misstatement of fact, misrepresentation, and false light claims are restatements of the defamation count. The accusations of action outside the scope of statutory duties, abuse of power, failure to carry out duties in a reasonable manner and in good faith, and failure to comply with statutory duties are basically restatements of his tortious interference count. These claims are merely derivative of the core claims and, to the extent they are actionable at all, depend upon the validity of the main causes of action.
The court dismissed the entire action solely upon the finding that the statute of limitations for the core libel action had lapsed. As a result, we must determine whether the trial court correctly applied the corresponding 1-year period of limitations to every cause of action. If one or more causes of action do not spring directly from the alleged defamatory act, the trial court prematurely dismissed the case, and a remand is required.
Normally, an appellate court will affirm where it is convinced the trial court reached the right result for the wrong reasons. See TMG Life Ins. Co. v. Ashner, 21 Kan. App. 2d 234, 257, 898 P.2d 1145 (1995) (appellate court affirmed where trial court used erroneous reasoning to reach proper result). In the context of liberally construed, notice-oriented pleading, however, we will not look for alternative reasons to support the trial court's conclusion. As a result, potential defenses under the Kansas Tort Claims Act, K.S.A. 75-6101 et seq., and Lincoln's claims of qualified immunity for its individual board members are not relevant at this time. They are more in the nature of affirmative defenses and ordinarily require the finder of fact to resolve certain factual issues. See Goldbarth v. Kansas State Board of Regents, 269 Kan. 881, 888, 9 P.3d 1251 (2000) (qualified immunity is an affirmative defense requiring plaintiff to show defendant violated a clearly established constitutional right). The trial court is in a better position to evaluate the applicability of such issues.
We turn to the defamation count and its derivative claims. Lincoln argued, and the trial court found, that Taylor, 25 Kan. App. 2d 671, applied and all of Meyer's claims were time barred by the 1-year statute of limitations on defamation.
In Taylor, the defendant, a former employer of the plaintiff, had written plaintiff's current employer alleging that the plaintiff was mentally unstable. The plaintiff brought a defamation claim and a claim for tortious interference, both based solely on the content of the letter. The period of limitations for defamation had lapsed, although the 2-year period of limitations for tortious interference had not. See K.S.A. 2000 Supp. 60-513(a)(4); K.S.A. 60-514(a).
The trial court struck the defamation claim but allowed the tortious interference claim to proceed to jury trial. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff. Our Court of Appeals concluded that the action was, at heart, one of defamation. Accordingly, it remanded with directions to strike the jury's finding of tortious interference: " plaintiff will not be permitted to escape the bar of the statute of limitations by calling a defamation action a tortious action for interference with a business advantage." 25 Kan. App. 2d at 680-81.
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