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Mohr v. Grant3/24/2005
Oral Argument Date: 05/13/2004
Concurring: Barbara A. Madsen, Charles W. Johnson, Gerry L Alexander, Richard B. Sanders, Susan Owens
Dissenting: Faith Ireland, Bobbe J Bridge, Tom Chambers
EN BANC
Respondents, Eliot B. Mohr and Mohr & Company, Inc., d/b/a Kitchen Interior Showcase (hereinafter Mohr or KIS), filed a defamation suit alleging that a series of newscasts aired by petitioners, KXLY-TV and reporter Tom Grant (hereinafter KXLY and Grant), were defamatory because they contained false statements and omitted material facts. The trial court granted KXLY and Grant's motion for summary judgment, holding that Mohr failed to establish falsity with convincing clarity because the newscasts did not contain false statements and the newscasts were substantially true. The Court of Appeals reversed, holding that Mohr presented sufficient evidence as to whether material omissions rendered the newscasts defamatory. We reverse and grant KXLY and Grant's motion for summary judgment.
I. FACTS
A lawyer informed Grant that the Spokane County Prosecutor's Office was prosecuting a developmentally disabled man who appeared incapable of understanding the proceedings against him. Grant learned that the man was Glen Burson, a 40 year old with Down's syndrome who possessed the mental capacity of a 5 year old. Grant reviewed Burson's court file and photocopied the incident
history and incident reports contained therein. He used on-line resources to check for pending cases involving Burson, but found none. He spoke with the defense attorney and the disability advocate working on the case. He interviewed Burson as well as his mother, brother, and sister. He contacted the prosecutor working on the case, her supervisor, and Mohr, but they all refused to discuss the case.
On November 16, 1998, KXLY aired an initial newscast. It opened with references to equal protection and Burson's having Down's syndrome. It then turned to the events leading to Burson's arrest and the negative effects of the prosecution on Burson:
MR. GRANT: Glen walked up to Kitchen Interiors Showcase last April. He had washed windows here before for free, but the owner complained that Glen smudged the glass and told Glen to stay away. Here's Glen's account of what happened when he returned in April.
MR. GLEN BURSON: He did my arm, okay. He did that, (indicating). Then he started to hit me. 'Go away.' I am not like that.
MR. GRANT: This is the account from the police report. The store owner says that Glen came in wanting candy and he refused to leave. When the store owner finally got him to go outside Glen was angry and he crossed his throat like this. That scared the owner so they called {the} police. And the police charged him with criminal trespass and harassment, charges that Glen really doesn't understand.
MR. HOMER BURSON: It kind of bewilders him. He knows that he is in trouble, he is not sure for what. But he knows he can't go back up there and he won't ever go back up there.
MR. GLEN BURSON: No, I won't go there anymore.
MR. GRANT: Yet even through Burson has no previous criminal history the courts won't let him go. At one point prosecutors wanted this boy, who has never been away from his mother, locked up for a 14 day evaluation at Eastern State Hospital. As eight months of court dragged by, the usually pudgy Glen lost more than 20 pounds, and he lost all sense of worth.
MR. GLEN BURSON: I try to help. I can't no more, (crying).
Clerk's Papers (CP) at 116-18. In the closing segmen
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