Rolling Stone not liable for allegedly defamatory statements

This case is a good example of how difficult it is to win a defamation case. The plaintiff sued Rolling Stone magazine for publishing an article that said he was prone to fits of rage, tried to start a fire in the family home, gave someone "a joint laced with a number of drugs," and encouraged someone to drive his vehicle into a crowd of people. None of these statements placed plaintiff in a positive light. But none of them are defamatory, either, according to the Court of Appeals.

The case is McGillvary v. Rolling Stone, LLC, a summary order issued on April 8. the article was called "Dark Tales:  A hatchet wielding hitchhiker went viral. Then he killed someone." The article "described [plaintiff's] involvement in thwarting a high-profile attack in 2013 (for which he was cleared of wrongdoing) and in committing a later unrelated murder for which he was convicted and is now serving a fifty-seven year sentence." 

Publications have a ton of defenses to any defamation claim. The truth is one defense. Another defense is that the objectionable statement is protected opinion. Or that the statement, in context, is not really defamatory. Or that the statement was not made with actual malice or reckless disregard as to falsity. 

The "fits of rage" statement is opinion, not presented as a factual statement, as the article "signaled to readers that it was relaying the opinions of those who knew McGillvary, not conveying a historical fact about McGillvary's personality or behavior." 

Another statement in the article said that plaintiff "tried to start a fire in the family home and was subsequently sent into foster care at the age of thirteen." But plaintiff admitted that he tried to light a sleeping bag on fire when he was four years old. While plaintiff claims the fire-starter statement suggests he tried to burn down the house at 13 years of age, "the 'fire-starter' statement contains no such temporal limitation" and "merely states that he 'tried to start a fire in the family home and was subsequently sent into foster care at the age of 13." In context, the fire-starter statement does not suggest he tried to start a fire in the family home when he was 13. 

What about the "laced-joint" and "ghosts" statements? They are not defamatory, either. Plaintiff admitted in this case that he is a "limited-purpose public figure with respect to his role" in the hitchhiking incident in which a motorist drove into a group of bystanders. The article says that plaintiff gave the driver a joint laced with drugs and that he told the driver "they were both ghosts" and could drive through a truck without anyone seeing them. But as a limited public figure, plaintiff has to show the statements were made with actual malice, or with reckless disregard of the statement's falsity. Analyzing the article carefully, the Court of Appeals (Wesley, Sullivan and Menashi) finds there is no reasonable inference that Rolling Stone published these statements with actual malice.