Rudnick

Letters written to the editor of a magazine or a newspaper are often like elaborate costume parties. Fact and opinion disguise their identities and pose as one another. Like the invitees at such affairs, the average reader is seldom deceived by the masquerade.

Here we consider a letter to the editor of a newspaper. The letter is alleged to be defamatory. The letter contains statements of opinion which assume the appearance of fact in circumstances which reveal to the average reader the statements’ true character. We hold, among other things, these statements are not defamatory.

Defendant Irv McMillan appeals from the judgment after a jury found that he libeled plaintiff, Marcus Rudnick. The trial court instructed the jury to determine by a preponderance of the evidence whether a letter McMillan wrote to a newspaper contained the false assertion of a fact causing injury to Rudnick.

Because Rudnick is a “limited purpose public figure,” such instructions are erroneous. In a libel case involving a public figure, a jury must find by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant published the false assertion of a fact with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless…