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Libel

Other Texas Cases

Of course, current libel cases will be decided based on recent precedents. Nevertheless, several older Texas cases deal with issues that remain significant today. They are worth examining.

Raymundo Davila v. The Caller Times

In 1956, the Caller-Times in Corpus Christi used an Associated Press story that said a Texas Ranger had killed Raymundo Davila of Laredo. Davila, the article said, was stopped six miles east of Freer by the Ranger. Davila fired on the Ranger and the Ranger shot and killed him.

As it turned out, the dead man wasn’t Raymundo Davila but his brother, Jesus Davila. Raymundo Davila sued the Caller-Times.

The question before the Court of Civil Appeals in San Antonio was whether the publication was privileged. The court ruled that it was not.

The case may be found at 311 S.W. 2d 945 (1958)

El Paso Times v. Richard C. Trexler

The El Paso Times ran an editorial concerning the participation of a teacher at the University of Texas at El Paso, Richard C. Trexler, in an anti-Vietnam war demonstration.

The Times editorial said that although it did not agree with Trexler’s views, it did uphold and agree with his right to express those views, including the right to be involved in a peaceful anti-war demonstration.

Later the newspaper ran a letter from a reader that said among other things: “There was a time when rats paid the penalty for treason against our Republic.”

The trial court ruled that Trexler was a public figure and a jury ruled against him. The Court of Civil Appeals reversed and remanded the case.

The Supreme Court of Texas ruled that the evidence did not support actual malice as defined in New York Times v. Sullivan: “with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” The judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals was reversed and the judgment of the trial court was affirmed.

This case is at 447 S.W. 2d 403 (1969)

John E. Foster v. Laredo Newspapers, Inc.

In 1973, the Laredo Times ran a story concerning a subdivision that had a flooding problem. The Times said that a surveyor, John E. Foster, had platted the subdivision. The story was incorrect in that the surveyor had not done the work.

The trial court granted summary judgment and the court of appeals affirmed – both on the grounds that the surveyor was a public official or public figure.

In 1976 the Supreme Court of Texas ruled that a jury must decide the issues in the case.

The case is 541 SW2d 809 (1976)

Denton Publishing Company v. D.B. Boyd

In 1967, a reporter for the Denton Record-Chronicle attended a meeting of the city council and reported the next day on various actions by the council.

The story said that a developer, D.B. Boyd, had failed to pave streets because he had declared bankruptcy.

The newspaper was informed that Boyd had not declared bankruptcy, and it ran a correction. Boyd won a trial and the newspaper appealed.

The Supreme Court of Texas ruled that the newspaper account was not privileged. The opinion of the court said that the story did not say that the statements about the developer being bankrupt were made by someone at the city council meeting. Instead, it was the reporter who said, “The developer…declared bankruptcy…”

“The problem arises,” the opinion said, “because the article as published is subject to interpretation that, as a matter of background information, Boyd was in fact bankrupt instead of reporting that it was stated as the City Council meeting that he was bankrupt. The publication would be within the privilege provided by statute as long as it purported to be, and was, only a fair, true and impartial report of what was stated at the meeting, regardless of whether the facts under discussion at such meeting were in fact true, unless the report was made with malice.”

Cited as 460 S.W.2d 881 (1970)