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Batson v. Shiflett3/12/1992
amatory meaning. Therefore, we hold that the issue of whether the words employed by petitioners had a defamatory meaning was properly submitted to the jury.
B. FALSITY
A false statement is one that is not substantially correct. See Piracci v. Hearst Corp., 263 F.Supp. 511, 513 (D.Md.1966), aff'd, 371 F.2d 1016 (4th Cir.1967). The burden of proving falsity is on the plaintiff; truth is not an affirmative defense. Jacron Sales, 276 Md. at 597, 350 A.2d at 698. Petitioners submit that (1) the statements made in Flyer No. 3 are substantially correct and that (2) they have a perfect right to advise the Local membership of Judge Evans's decision. We shall address each of these contentions separately.
We agree that " inor inaccuracies do not amount to falsity so long as 'the substance, the gist, the sting, of the libelous charge be justified.'" Masson, U.S. at , 111 S.Ct. at 2433, 115 L.Ed.2d at 472 (citations omitted). Put another way, a statement is not considered false unless it "would have a different effect on the mind of the reader from that which the pleaded truth would have produced." R. Sack, Libel, Slander, and Related Problems
138 (1980) (footnote omitted). Further, federal labor law recognizes that "rhetorical hyperbole" is common and protected. In Letter Carriers v. Austin, supra, the Court reversed a defamation judgment based on the use of the epithets of "scab" and "traitor." The Court explained the referring to the appellees as scabs was factually true because a "scab" is defined as one who refuses to join a union. Also, the use of the term "traitor" could not be construed as a representation of fact, the Court said. The Court added that:
"This is not to say that there might not be situations where the use of this writing or other similar rhetoric in a labor dispute could be actionable, particularly if some of its words were taken out of context and used in such a way as to convey a false representation of fact."
418 U.S. at 286, 94 S.Ct. at 2782, 41 L.Ed.2d at 763. Thus, a substantial distortion of fact is not protected under federal labor law. Contrary to petitioners' contentions, the jury reasonably could have found that Flyer No. 3 contained sufficient misstatements of fact to be substantially incorrect. A review of the decision of the NLRB fails to establish any basis for the assertion that the statements contained in Flyer No. 3 are true; it never concluded that Shiflett committed any "crimes." There was no finding that Shiflett committed "perjury" at the hearing. Furthermore, the NLRB never found that any unlawful "conspiracy" between the Bethlehem and Shiflett existed, or that Shiflett "falsified" any record. Therefore, the petitioners' argument that their statements were justified because they were substantially correct fails.
A qualified privilege exists under Maryland law to report legal proceedings so long as the report is fair, bona fide and impartial. McBee v. Fulton, 47 Md. 403, 417, 426 (1878) ("The reports, though they need not be verbatim, must be substantially correct and not garbled or partial, and made bona fide or without malice"). Whether a report is fair and accurate is a question of fact for the jury. Id. Contrary to petitioners' assertion, however, their characterization
of the opinion of the NLRB's administrative law judge could be found by a jury to be not substantially correct, nor fair, bona fide or impartial. Petitioners attempt to stretch the findings of Judge Evans so as to justify their defamatory statements in Flyer No. 3, resulting in a distortion of the judge's findings. We conclude that a jury could reasonably find that
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