(Download) "Mcdonald v. Renford" by Supreme Court of New York ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Mcdonald v. Renford
- Author : Supreme Court of New York
- Release Date : January 08, 2001
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 56 KB
Description
Supreme Court erred in failing to grant in its entirety the motion of defendants Tribune Entertainment Co. and The Investigative News Group, Inc. (collectively, the Geraldo defendants) seeking summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them. Plaintiff is a City of Buffalo police officer who alleges that he was defamed by comments concerning police brutality made by defendant Loretta L. Renford on a Geraldo Rivera Show that aired on December 4, 1996. The Geraldo defendants met their initial burden of establishing their entitlement to judgment as a matter of law by submitting evidence that they did not act with actual malice (see, Sweeney v Prisoners Legal Servs., 84 NY2d 786, 792- 793). In support of his contention that a question of fact exists on that issue, plaintiff submitted evidence that the Geraldo defendants failed to perform any investigation whatsoever into Renfords claims before airing them on the show, arguing that the Geraldo defendants acted with actual malice by "purposefully avoiding" the truth (see, Sweeney v Prisoners Legal Servs., supra, at 793). However, a "failure to investigate cannot amount to purposeful avoidance unless it evidences an intent to avoid the truth" (Sweeney v Prisoners Legal Servs., supra, at 793). In the absence of evidence that the Geraldo defendants were aware that Renfords claims were probably false, the Geraldo defendants "cannot be found to have harbored an intent to avoid the truth" (Sweeney v Prisoners Legal Servs., supra, at 793). Thus, they were entitled to summary judgment dismissing the complaint against them (see, Freeman v Johnston, 84 NY2d 52, 57-58, cert denied 513 US 1016; Gross v New York Times Co., ___ AD2d ___ [decided Mar. 22, 2001]).