Wilson v. Daily Gazette Co.

588 S.E.2d 197

214 W.Va. 208

Quincy WILSON, Plaintiff Below, Appellant, v. The DAILY GAZETTE COMPANY, a West Virginia Corporation, Defendant Below, Appellee.

No. 31045.

Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia.

Submitted May 14, 2003.

Decided June 12, 2003.

Dissenting Opinion of Justice McGraw June 13, 2003.

Ancil G. Ramey, Michelle E. Piziak, Steptoe & Johnson, Charleston, West Virginia.

William E. Galloway, Weirton, West Virginia, Attorneys for Appellant.

Rudolph L. DiTrapano, Joshua I. Barrett, Sean P. McGinley, DiTrapano, Barrett & DiPiero, Charleston, West Virginia, Attorneys for Appellee. DAVIS, Justice:

Quincy Wilson, appellant/plaintiff below (hereinafter referred to as "Mr. Wilson"), appeals an adverse ruling by the Circuit Court of Hancock County which granted summary judgment to the Daily Gazette Company, appellee/defendant below (hereinafter referred to as "The Gazette"). The circuit court's order dismissed Mr. Wilson's defamation claim against The Gazette.¹ Before this Court, Mr. Wilson contends that the circuit court erred in concluding that he was a "public figure," and further erred in concluding that he failed to carry his burden of producing sufficient evidence to establish the element of malice in his defamation claim. Simply put, Mr. Wilson contends that he was not a public figure. Alternatively, if found to be a public figure, he claims to have produced sufficient evidence to meet his burden of establishing malice at the summary judgment stage. After reviewing the briefs and listening to the arguments of the parties, this case is reversed and remanded.

I.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

In 1999, Mr. Wilson was a seventeen year old student athlete at Weir High School. Mr. Wilson was a member of the high school's football and basketball teams. As a football player, Mr. Wilson was a co-winner of the Kennedy Award.² He received an athletic scholarship to play football at West Virginia University. As a basketball player, Mr. Wilson helped lead his team to the state championship.

On March 18, 1999, Mr. Wilson participated in a statewide championship high school basketball game held in Charleston. At the conclusion of the game, a rumor was circulated that Mr. Wilson "exposed" himself in public during a post-game victory celebration. On March 19, 1999, the Gazette published two articles referencing the rumor that Mr. Wilson had exposed himself after the basketball game.³ The relevant language from the first article read as follows Some East Bank fans complained that [Quincy] Wilson exposed himself to the Pioneers' cheering section during Weir's postgame celebration.⁴

The relevant language from the second article read as follows:

Weir's players, rather than run and celebrate with fans, found themselves rolling around in front of East Bank's fans.

That scene led to taunts from both sides. It led to an allegation that ... co-Kennedy Award winner Quincy Wilson went the extra step and exposed himself.⁵

Subsequent to the publication of the articles, Mr. Wilson filed a defamation action against the Gazette. After a period of discovery, the Gazette filed a motion for summary judgment. One of the legal issues raised by the Gazette's motion was that Mr. Wilson was a public figure within the meaning of defamation law. The circuit court agreed with the Gazette. Consequently, the circuit held that Mr. Wilson had to show that the publications were made with actual malice. The circuit court ultimately concluded that Mr. Wilson failed to present sufficient evidence to establish actual malice. Therefore, the circuit court granted summary judgment in favor of the Gazette. It is from these rulings that Mr. Wilson appeals.

II.

STANDARD OF REVIEW

Here, we are asked to review the circuit court's order granting summary judgment in favor of the Gazette. Our cases have made clear that "[a] circuit court's entry of summary judgment is reviewed de novo." Syl. pt. 1, Painter v. Peavy, 192 W.Va. 189, 451 S.E.2d 755 (1994). Insofar as "`appellate review of an entry of summary judgment is plenary, this Court, like the circuit court, must view the entire record in the light most hospitable to the party opposing summary judgment, indulging all reasonable inferences in that party's favor.'" Provident Life and Accident Ins. Co. v. Bennett, 199 W.Va. 236, 238, 483 S.E.2d 819, 821 (1997) (quoting Asaad v. Res-Care, Inc., 197 W.Va. 684, 687, 478 S.E.2d 357, 360 (1996)). We have made clear that "summary judgment is appropriate [only] if `there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and ... the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.'" Pritt v. Republican Nat'l Committee, 210 W.Va. 446, 452, 557 S.E.2d 853, 859 (2001) (quoting W. Va.R.Civ.P. 56(c)). Further, "[s]ummary judgment should be denied `even where there is no dispute as to the evidentiary facts in the case but only as to the conclusions to be drawn therefrom.'" Williams v. Precision Coil, Inc., 194 W.Va. 52, 59, 459 S.E.2d 329, 336 (1995) (quoting Pierce v. Ford Motor Co., 190 F.2d 910, 915 (4th Cir.1951)). "The essence of the inquiry the court must make is `whether the evidence presents a sufficient disagreement to require submission to a jury or whether it is so one-sided that one party must prevail as a matter of law.'" Williams, 194 W.Va. at 61, 459 S.E.2d at 338 (quoting Anderson v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 251-252, 106 S.Ct. 2505, 2512, 91 L.Ed.2d 202 (1986)). Moreover, "[a] nonmoving party need not come forward with evidence in a form that would be admissible at trial in order to avoid summary judgment. However, to withstand the motion, the nonmoving party must show there will be enough competent evidence available at trial to enable a finding favorable to the nonmoving party." Williams, 194 W.Va. at 60-61, 459 S.E.2d at 337-338 (citations omitted).

In this proceeding one of the dispositive issues we are called upon to examine involves the circuit court's determination that Mr. Wilson was a public figure. Courts have generally recognized, and we now hold, that "whether a plaintiff in a defamation action is a public figure is a question of law for the trial court." Khawar v. Globe Int'l, Inc., 19 Cal.4th 254, 79 Cal.Rptr.2d 178, 183, 965 P.2d 696 (1998). See also State ex rel. Suriano v. Gaughan, 198 W.Va. 339, 346, 480 S.E.2d 548, 555 (1996) (holding that whether plaintiff is a public figure "can be decided by a court as [a] matter[ ] of law."); Lundell Mfg. Co., Inc. v. American Broad. Cos., Inc., 98 F.3d 351, 362 (8th Cir.1996) ("The determination of a plaintiff's status as a .... public figure is an issue of law."); Tavoulareas v. Piro, 817 F.2d 762, 772 (D.C.Cir.1987) ("Whether (and to what extent) a person is a public figure is a matter of law for the court to decide."); Rebozo v. Washington Post Co., 637 F.2d 375, 379 (5th Cir.1981) ("[T]he trial court, not a jury, must determine whether the evidence showed that plaintiff was a public figure.").⁶ Consequently, we further hold that "[o]n appeal, the trial court's resolution of disputed factual questions bearing on the public figure determination is reviewed for [clear error], while the trial court's resolution of the ultimate question of public figure status is a question of law subject to [de novo] review." Khawar, 79 Cal.Rptr.2d at 183,965 P.2d 696. With these principles in view, we now turn to the merits of this case.

III.

DISCUSSION

A. Determining Whether Mr. Wilson Was a Public Figure

The first issue we must address is whether the circuit court correctly concluded that Mr. Wilson was a public figure⁷ for purposes of his defamation claim.⁸ At the outset, we follow the general rule among other federal and state jurisdictions by holding that, in a claim for defamation, there are three recognized categories of public figures: "(1) `involuntary public figures,' who become public figures through no purposeful action of their own; (2) `all-purpose public figures,' who achieve such pervasive fame or notoriety that they become public figures for all purposes and in all contexts; and (3) `limited-purpose public figures,' who voluntarily inject themselves into a particular public controversy and thereby become public figures for a limited range of issues." Wells v. Liddy, 186 F.3d 505, 532 (4th Cir.1999). Accord U.S. Healthcare, Inc. v. Blue Cross of Greater Philadelphia, 898 F.2d 914, 938 (3d Cir.1990); Naantaanbuu v. Abernathy, 816 F.Supp. 218, 223 (S.D.N.Y.1993); Metge v. Central Neighborhood Improvement Ass'n, 649 N.W.2d 488, 495 (Minn.Ct.App.2002); Gaunt v. Pittaway, 139 N.C.App. 778, 534 S.E.2d 660, 664-665 (2000).⁹ In the instant proceeding, the circuit court's order does not identify the public figure category for Mr. Wilson. Therefore, we must separately examine each category.

1. All-purpose public figure. In Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 94 S.Ct. 2997, 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974), the United States Supreme Court established the all-purpose public figure category.¹⁰ The decision in Gertz involved a defamation action brought by an attorney who alleged that he was defamed by an article in the defendant's magazine. The article described the attorney as a communist. The lower federal courts granted judgment for the defendant. On appeal to the Supreme Court, one of the issues raised was whether the attorney was a public figure. The evidence on the attorney's status as a public figure revealed that "[h]e served as an officer of local civic groups and of various professional organizations, and he ha[d] published several books and articles on legal subjects." Gertz, 418 U.S. at 351,94 S.Ct. at 3013. In its resolution of this issue, Gertz created the all-purpose public figure category. Gertz stated "[i]n some instances an individual may achieve such pervasive fame or notoriety that he becomes a public figure for all purposes and in all contexts." Gertz, 418 U.S. at 351,94 S.Ct. at 3013. Gertz further held "[a]bsent clear evidence of general fame or...