Tom Hanley v. The Tribune Publishing Company, D/B/A the Oakland Tribune

By this diversity action brought in the district of Nevada, appellant, a resident and domiciliary of Nevada, seeks recovery of general damages for an alleged libel first published by defendant-appellee May 4, 1969. Defendant-appellee is engaged in the publication of a newspaper in Oakland, California, and sells and distributes its publications in the state of Nevada. The complaint did not claim that special damages were suffered by thé plaintiff. It failed to allege any demand by plaintiff for retraction of the alleged libel. An unusual choice of law question is presented by the appeal.

Under California statute law at the time of the publication, a plaintiff could recover no more than special damages unless correction of the alleged libel was demanded and was not forthcoming, Calif.Civil Code § 48a(l). At the time of the publication, Nevada statute law did not have such a provision. A statute to that effect had, however, been passed by the Nevada Legislature, and approved by the governor on April 14, 1969 (three weeks before the publication) with an effective date of July 1, 1969 (some two months after the publication).

The district court concluded that the Nevada…