Reuber v. Food Chemical News

Melvin Reuber was employed as a scientist at a research center operated for the National Cancer Institute (NCI). While operating under the aegis of the NCI, Reuber disseminated his own research and took other actions which created the misleading impression that the NCI had reversed its official position that the pesticide malathion was a non-carcinogen. By such actions, Reuber, a self-styled whistleblower, entered the public controversy swirling around malathion's safety. In response to Reuber's involvement, his supervisor issued a letter of reprimand which criticized Reuber for, among other things, promoting inadequate research and subverting public confidence in the NCI. A news publication received a copy of the letter and published the majority of its contents. Reuber then sued and won a judgment against the publication for defamation and invasion of privacy.

In reviewing Reuber's claims, we hold that a whistleblower is not invariably immune from public figure status and that recovery in this instance must be judged under an actual malice standard, a standard Reuber has failed to satisfy. In addition, we hold that appellant did not invade Reuber's privacy. We therefore reverse the district court's judgment.

Melvin Reuber is no stranger to the scientific and political debates raging over the carcinogenicity of chemical pesticides. He began his research on carcinogens in the 1950s during his graduate training in pathology. In the early 1970s, Reuber served as a consultant to the Environmental Protection Agency on the carcinogenicity of certain chemicals, including pesticides. In this capacity, Reuber testified at EPA hearings and at a Senate subcommittee hearing. At these hearings, Reuber established himself as a scientist who frequently found pesticides to be carcinogens. At one hearing, for example, he challenged the validity of reports submitted by the chemical companies on pesticide safety, deeming most of the reports to be "worthless."

In 1976, Reuber started work with the Frederick Cancer Research Center ("FCRC"). Litton Bionetics operated the FCRC under a contract with the National Cancer Institute ("NCI"), a public agency. At the FCRC, Reuber studied the carcinogenic effects of various chemicals. Reuber also performed independent research on his own time, often using materials and facilities at Tracor Jitco, another facility under contract with the NCI. As part of his independent research, Reuber analyzed the pesticide picloram and concluded that it was a carcinogen. He delivered his findings at a conference in Oregon in the late 1970s. At the conference, Reuber touted his abilities to accurately determine carcinogenicity. He also reported his views on the carcinogenicity of picloram in a study that environmental groups in Wisconsin utilized to oppose the use of picloram in the state.

As an additional part of Reuber's independent research, he reanalyzed bioassays testing the potential carcinogenicity of malathion, an insecticide. These bioassays had been deposited at Tracor Jitco by other scientists under contract to the NCI. These scientists had found malathion to be non-carcinogenic and reported their findings in an official NCI report. Reuber concluded, on the contrary, that malathion was carcinogenic and assembled his findings in an unpublished manuscript.

Reuber's research on malathion gained prominence during the Mediterranean fruit fly ("Medfly") infestation of California in 1980-81. State officials proposed the use of malathion to eradicate the Medfly. The question of how to eradicate the Medfly, in particular the proposed use of malathion, engendered a significant public controversy pitting state agricultural interests against those of other groups, including environmentalists. A California environmental group began using Reuber's malathion manuscript, which it had earlier requested from Reuber, as ammunition in its battle to oppose the use of malathion. Although Reuber based the manuscript on his independent research, the address that appeared on the paper directly below Reuber's name was "NCI, Frederick Cancer Research Center/Frederick, Maryland 21701."

By affiliating his own study with the NCI/FCRC in this way, Reuber created confusion over the official NCI position on the potential carcinogenic effects of malathion. In fact, California state health officials contacted NCI to determine whether Reuber's manuscript represented the current NCI position or whether NCI adhered to the findings of its prior published study. Drs. Vernon Hartwell and Richard Adamson, two NCI executives, responded to this confusion by contacting Dr. Michael Hanna, Reuber's supervisor at FCRC and its director, and urging him to investigate Reuber's activities.

On March 26, 1981, Hanna reprimanded Reuber in a letter (the "Hanna letter") asserting that Reuber had engaged in various forms of professional misconduct: creating the impression that the NCI endorsed his independent research, engaging in inadequate research, spending excessive time away from his job, and ignoring NCI publication clearance procedures. For example, the letter states, "you have operated under the guise of the endorsement of both NCI and the ... FCRC. These obstreperous actions have had a multi-million dollar implication, giving the impression that the NCI may be administering programs of questionable competency." On the adequacy of research, the letter states that after reviewing the evidence, "I can only assume that your statement regarding your thorough evaluation of these slides was incorrect and misleading ... thus raising a question of whether your interpretation is scientifically valid."

Hanna sent copies of the reprimand letter to officials at Litton and the NCI. This letter was then leaked to outside parties. How the letter leaked from its initial recipients has not been determined. In any event, on April 13, 1981 an anonymous source provided Dr. William Hollis of the National Agricultural Chemicals Association with a copy of the letter. Hollis then forwarded a copy to Jack Wise of Stauffer Chemical Company. Wise, in turn, informed Catherine Cooper, the editor of the Pesticide and Toxic Chemical News ("PTCN" or "the News"), about the letter. The PTCN is a newsletter with approximately 1,300 subscribers seeking information on pesticides and toxic chemicals. Appellant Food Chemical News owns PTCN. On April 15, 1981, Cooper published an article about the Hanna letter, essentially reprinting most of the letter's contents. It is undisputed that Wise gave Cooper an accurate copy of the Hanna reprimand and that the News reported accurately its contents. On April 24, 1981, Reuber resigned from Litton.

Reuber then filed suit in federal district court for the District of Columbia against the Food Chemical News as well as his employers and supervisors. The suit against the Food Chemical News was eventually transferred to the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and is the only one before us on appeal. The district court held a jury trial on Reuber's common law claims against the News for defamation and invasion of privacy. On the defamation count, the jury found that the News had acted with actual malice in publishing one or more false statements about Reuber. The jury also held the News liable for invasion of privacy. It awarded Reuber $625,000 in compensatory damages and $250,000 in punitive damages.

The News appealed the district court's judgment. A panel of this circuit affirmed the judgment for Reuber. Reuber v. Food Chemical News, Inc., 899 F.2d 271 (4th Cir.1990). The court then voted to rehear the case en banc and we now reverse the judgment of the district court. We will treat Reuber's two claims in turn, defamation followed by invasion of privacy.

In assessing Reuber's defamation claim we shall assume, without deciding, that at least one of the statements in the News' account of the Hanna letter was false. We shall also assume that the falsity damaged Reuber. What remains to be determined by this court is Reuber's status as private or public figure. The court must then decide whether Reuber adequately proved his case against the News under the appropriate standard of culpability.

We hold that Reuber is a limited purpose public figure for this appeal because he voluntarily injected himself into a public controversy "in order to influence the resolution of the issues involved." Gertz v. Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 345, 94 S.Ct. 2997, 3009, 41 L.Ed.2d 789 (1974). As a public figure, he must prove actual malice to recover either compensatory or punitive damages. In fulfilling our constitutional duty to review the record independently, we hold that Reuber has failed to demonstrate actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. Therefore, the award of damages for defamation must be reversed.

To recover compensatory damages for defamation, a public official or public figure must show actual malice, while a private figure may recover under a lower standard of culpability. Gertz, 418 U.S. at 347-48, 94 S.Ct. at 3010-11. To recover punitive damages for defamation related to a matter of public concern, any party regardless of status must show actual malice under a clear and convincing evidence standard. See Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 2695, 2703-04, 111 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990). Because the culpability standards for recovering compensatory damages depend so much upon a plaintiff's status, we must determine Reuber's status as public or private figure. This determination is ultimately one of law. Fitzgerald v. Penthouse Int'l, Ltd., 691 F.2d 666, 669-70 (4th Cir.1982).

The News contends that Reuber is a public figure based on his participation in controversies involving the use of pesticides, especially the malathion controversy. In response, Reuber argues he is a private person who merely headed a pathology lab at FCRC and "was not known to the public at large."

In Fitzgerald v. Penthouse, this court set forth a five-factor test for determining whether a party is a public figure. 691 F.2d at 668. The first of Fitzgerald 's factors asks whether "the plaintiff had access to channels of effective communication." 691 F.2d at 668. In Hutchinson v. Proxmire, the Supreme Court determined that a defamed behavioral scientist was not a public figure, in part, because his access to channels of communication was extremely limited. 443 U.S. 111, 135-36, 99 S.Ct. 2675, 2688-89, 61 L.Ed.2d 411 (1979). In contrast, Reuber had significant access to channels of effective communication before and during the time the News published the article on the letter of reprimand. Reuber had testified before the Congress and the Environmental Protection Agency and had given lectures on the health threats associated with various pesticides. In addition, Reuber's findings on malathion were discussed in numerous television, newspaper, and radio reports. Reuber also gave at least one interview to a California paper on the perils of malathion at the very height of the controversy. Perhaps most significantly, Reuber had access to important public health and scientific sources of communication. For example, Reuber had thirty-five or more published papers to his credit. He had also been mentioned in eleven articles in the News prior to its publication of the article on the reprimand letter. These are the fora where Reuber's reputation was presumably tarnished and where it could be redeemed.

The inquiry into access to channels of communication proceeds on the assumption that public controversy can be aired without the need for litigation and that rebuttal of offending speech is preferable to recourse to the courts. Gertz, 418 U.S. at 344, 94 S.Ct. at 3009. Reuber, however, attempted little or no rebuttal. He neither requested a retraction or correction of the News report nor sought to respond to the News' story in a subsequent issue; instead, he raced to court.

The inappropriateness of this course of action is apparent when one examines the combined second and third factors of the Fitzgerald analysis: whether the plaintiff has voluntarily assumed a role of special prominence in a public controversy by attempting to influence the outcome of the controversy. 691 F.2d at 668. These twin factors reflect a "normative consideration that public figures are less deserving of protection than private persons because public figures, like public officials, have 'voluntarily exposed themselves to increased risk of injury from defamatory falsehood concerning them.' " Wolston v. Reader's Digest Ass'n, Inc., 443 U.S. 157, 164, 99 S.Ct. 2701, 2706, 61 L.Ed.2d 450 (1979) (citations omitted). In Hutchinson v. Proxmire, the Court held that Hutchinson did not voluntarily enter a controversy over federal government accountability simply by accepting federal funding for his research. 443 U.S. at 135, 99 S.Ct. at 2688. Hutchinson was completely unknown to the public before Senator Proxmire presented him with the "Golden Fleece" award.

Reuber's research, again by contrast with Hutchinson's, was quite familiar to most of those involved in the public debate over the carcinogenicity of pesticides, in particular malathion. Someone who has not attracted general notoriety may nonetheless be a public figure in the context of a particular controversy covered by publications of specialized interest. See, e.g., Waldbaum v. Fairchild Publications, Inc., 627 F.2d 1287, 1290, 1300 (D.C.Cir.1980) (supermarket executive, whose actions were reported extensively in trade publications, was a limited-purpose public figure). As Cooper, the editor of the News, testified, Reuber had a reputation within the scientific community as someone who usually found a chemical to be a carcinogen. Moreover, Reuber described himself as "eminent" in his field. Reuber's involvement in the California malathion controversy began in late 1979 or early 1980 when he received a request from the John Muir Institute of California, an environmental group, for information on various chemicals, including malathion. Reuber sent the Institute a copy of his malathion paper. The environmental group then widely disseminated Reuber's findings on malathion. For example, the Institute included excerpts from Reuber's paper in a hand-out the group distributed at a press conference held by the state on its Medfly eradication proposals. In addition, after California health officials learned of Reuber's research, they conducted their own study and concluded that malathion was safe. An attorney for a California county, which opposed the spraying of malathion, also requested and received from Reuber a copy of his manuscript.

Reuber argues that providing a manuscript that is used by others in a controversy does not meet the Fitzgerald requirement of voluntarily entering a controversy. We cannot accept this claim in his case. See, e.g., National Found. for Cancer Research, Inc. v. Council of Better Business Bureaus, Inc., 705 F.2d 98, 101-02 (4th Cir.1983). Under Reuber's view, one could knowingly disseminate his views to the combatants in a controversy, and then disavow public figure status when his views and credentials are vigorously challenged. We do not think the law provides the sort of artificial shield that Reuber claims, and believe the question of personal injection into a public controversy must be more particularly evaluated.

Reuber also contends that he cannot be a public figure because many of his activities related to malathion occurred prior to the discovery of the Medfly in California. We note, however, that even "involuntary" participants can be public figures when they choose a course of conduct which invites public attention. See, e.g., Clyburn v. News World Communications, Inc., 903 F.2d 29, 33 (D.C.Cir.1990); McDowell v. Paiewonsky, 769 F.2d 942, 949-50 (3d Cir.1985). Reuber invited attention by authoring and by disseminating a study which challenged the government's conclusions that malathion, a widely used pesticide, was non-carcinogenic.

Even if Reuber's arguments accurately reflected the law, they ignore the considerable body of evidence that he entered into the malathion controversy voluntarily. The evidence reflects an individual knowingly deploying himself on the front-lines of debate. For example, Reuber furthered the dissemination of his malathion study by referring interested parties, including a California congressman, to the John Muir Institute for copies of his study. Further, Reuber wrote a letter to the director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture and sent a copy to an official of the California Department of Public Health in early 1981 in an attempt to influence the outcome of the malathion controversy. In that letter, Reuber criticized an earlier NCI malathion study and stressed the superiority of his own scientific credentials. Reuber even included his curriculum vitae and bibliography. The letter concluded by inviting these officials to contact Reuber for further assistance.

The means by which Reuber injected himself into the malathion controversy are also significant. He circulated findings of his own malathion research with his office address attached indicating his affiliation with the FCRC and the NCI. Similarly, he wrote his letters to the California health officials on FCRC stationery and signed them "Melvin D. Reuber, MD/Head, Experimental Pathology Laboratory." Further, Reuber took issue with the position of the NCI which was funding the facilities at which he performed his research. By taking issue with the NCI in studies and letters that at the same time indicated his affiliation with the agency, Reuber not only voluntarily injected himself into the malathion controversy by vigorously promoting his own views and research, but did so in a manner that was bound to create confusion over what the official agency position was.

The fourth Fitzgerald factor analyzes whether "the controversy existed prior to the publication of the defamatory statements." 691 F.2d at 668. The News argues this requirement is easily met because in 1981, at the time the News printed the Hanna letter, people were hotly debating the use of pesticides, including malathion. As Reuber's complaint recognizes: "around the end of 1980, controversies developed in the States of California and Wisconsin, and elsewhere, over the desirability of the wide scale use of malathion and picloram."

Reuber contends, however, that the fourth Fitzgerald requirement cannot be met because the editor of the News admitted that she did not intend to publish the article in the context of the malathion controversy. Here, appellee attempts to introduce the subjective element of the author's intent into the determination of public figure status. We reject this approach in favor of the objective approach outlined in Waldbaum v. Fairchild Publications, 627 F.2d at 1293-94. Any reasonable observer examining the reprimand letter could conclude that it addressed the malathion controversy. For instance, the Hanna letter refers to the impact of Reuber's study on the California agricultural economy. More specifically, the reprimand letter refers to Reuber's correspondence with the Director of the California Department of Food and Agriculture in which Reuber challenged the credibility of the government's malathion research. The reprimand letter also refers to speeches, telephone calls, and reports Reuber made in which he challenged the competency of the government's malathion researchers. Thus, the fourth requirement for public figure status is met.

The fifth and final Fitzgerald factor addresses whether "the plaintiff retained public figure status at the time of the alleged defamation." 691 F.2d at 668. The News published the alleged defamation at the height of the malathion controversy, several months before spraying of malathion actually began. Reuber's research was therefore still important to the outcome of the controversy.

This analysis of the Fitzgerald factors demonstrates that Reuber, unlike the defamed behavioral scientist in Hutchinson v. Proxmire, was very much a public figure in the malathion dispute. We do not say that every whistleblower is a public figure because such a broad statement would unduly chill necessary criticism of government conduct. It is true, of course, that the prospect of public figure status may chill some potential critics of government action, but the chill is no greater than it would be for any person about to enter the rough and tumble of a public controversy. The rules designed to test public figure status remain what they have always been. By classifying Reuber as a public figure we affirm that the First Amendment is a two-way street. The Amendment assumes that hard blows may be swapped in the search for just outcomes. Reuber may use his research to challenge the credibility of scientists employed by the government; but when other scientists respond by challenging his credibility and the media reports these challenges, Reuber has little right to cry foul. As a public figure, Reuber must prove actual malice to recover either compensatory or punitive damages for defamation.

We thus begin the inquiry into actual malice. As a first step, we examine the jury instructions and conclude that the court erred in its instructions on the critical element of actual malice. That error alone requires a remand, but the inquiry does not end there. We must next determine whether Reuber proved actual malice by clear and convincing evidence for if he did not, we would enter judgment for the News rather than remanding for a new trial. This determination is in turn informed by the existence of a fair report privilege on the part of the News.

Appellant contends that the trial court erred as a matter of law when instructing the jury on actual malice. The court gave this instruction to the jury:

You are instructed that actual malice exists when the person making the statement knowingly and deliberately lies or makes the statement with knowledge that it is false or with reckless disregard for its truth or falsity.

It is not enough to show merely that the publisher failed to investigate the truth of the statements. A failure to estimate standing alone is not actual malice. However, a failure to follow accepted standards of journalistic practice can be considered in determining whether the element of reckless indifference is present.

If you find that the News published an article whose substance makes substantial danger to reputation apparent and that it engaged in conduct which is an extreme departure from the standards of investigation and reporting normally adhered to by responsible publishers, the element of reckless indifference may be established.

In the first paragraph, reckless disregard is undefined. Indeed, the judge never informed the jury that reckless disregard relates to a state of mind in which a "defendant in fact entertained serious doubts as to the truth of his publication." St. Amant v. Thompson, 390 U.S. 727, 731, 88 S.Ct. 1323, 1325, 20 L.Ed.2d 262 (1968). Instead, the jury was informed that reckless disregard may be established by showing a departure from accepted journalistic practices. Here, the district court resurrected Justice Harlan's approach to reckless disregard stated in Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130, 155, 87 S.Ct. 1975, 1991, 18 L.Ed.2d 1094 (1967) (plurality opinion). That approach, however, did not command a majority in Butts and "there is no question that public figure libel cases are controlled by the New York Times standard and not by the professional standards rule, which never commanded a majority of this Court." Harte-Hanks Communications, Inc. v. Connaughton, 491 U.S. 657, 109 S.Ct. 2678, 2685, 105 L.Ed.2d 562 (1989). See also Ryan v. Brooks, 634 F.2d 726, 731 (4th Cir.1980) (expressly recognizing that the Supreme Court has never endorsed the professional standards rule). In fact, the Harte-Hanks Court went to some lengths to reaffirm that a departure from accepted standards alone does not constitute actual malice. See 109 S.Ct. at 2684-85.

Thus, the trial court erred as a matter of law in its instructions to the jury on actual malice. When " 'it is impossible to know, in view of the general verdict returned' whether the jury imposed liability on a permissible or an impermissible ground, 'the judgment must be reversed and the case remanded.' " Greenbelt Publishing Ass'n v. Bresler, 398 U.S. 6, 11, 90 S.Ct. 1537, 1540, 26 L.Ed.2d 6 (1970) (quoting New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 284, 84 S.Ct. 710, 728, 11 L.Ed.2d 686 (1964)). This principle should operate with special force in this case because it is not at all unlikely that the jury rested its finding of actual malice on the impermissible ground of a departure from accepted standards. For instance, the jury foreman, during a break in deliberations, asked the court for a transcript of the testimony of "the three expert reporters who testified as experts." This testimony focused on whether the News departed from accepted journalistic standards.

While the error in the jury instructions would alone mandate reversal, this cannot end our inquiry. The question remains whether to remand the cause for a new trial or to direct entry of judgment for the News.

To decide this question, we must examine whether Reuber proved actual malice by clear and convincing evidence. While the Supreme Court in Harte-Hanks did not endorse making departures from journalistic standards the determinant of actual malice, it did recognize that such standards might serve as supportive evidence for a reviewing court in its determination of this critical element of recovery. 109 S.Ct. at 2686. In this regard, we think the inquiry into actual malice may properly be informed by the existence vel non of a "fair report privilege" on the part of the News. While the sources of the fair report privilege are in some dispute, several circuits have recognized that a privilege which goes to the heart of news organizations' ability to report to citizens about their government is one with constitutional implications. See, e.g., Lee v. Dong-A Ilbo, 849 F.2d 876, 878 (4th Cir.1988); Medico v. Time, Inc., 643 F.2d 134, 143-45 (3d Cir.1981); Edwards v. National Audubon Society, Inc., 556 F.2d 113, 120 (2d Cir.1977). A fair report privilege shields news organizations from defamation claims when publishing information originally based upon government reports or actions. In one sense, the presence of a privilege and the absence of actual malice are separate defenses, but in another sense they are related. While it is, of course, possible that a possessor of a qualified privilege could nonetheless be acting with reckless disregard of truth, the existence of a privilege diminishes the likelihood of that occurrence.

This is so because of the premises underlying the fair report privilege. The fair report privilege is an exception to the republication rule and is designed to mitigate its harsh effects. "Under the republication rule, one who repeats a defamatory statement is as liable as the original defamer," Lee, 849 F.2d at 878, unless, of course, the repetition is a privileged one. We recognize a fair report privilege, in part, because of the open relationship we seek to share with our own government. Id. at 879. While the news media of necessity has something of an adversarial relationship with government officials, that relationship coexists with the function recognized by the fair report privilege simply to inform citizens of what the government is doing. Government documents serve as "the basic data of governmental operations." Cox Broadcasting Corp. v. Cohn, 420 U.S. 469, 492, 95 S.Ct. 1029, 1044, 43 L.Ed.2d 328 (1975). The fair report privilege encourages the media to report regularly on government operations so that citizens can monitor them. In return for frequent and timely reports on governmental activity, defamation law has traditionally stopped short of imposing extensive investigatory requirements on a news organization reporting on a governmental activity or document. See, e.g., Rushford v. New Yorker Magazine, Inc., 846 F.2d 249, 254 (4th Cir.1988). Inevitably, this reduces the chances that a news organization could actually know that a government report contained false charges or could maintain serious doubts about them.

With these considerations in mind, we address whether the fair report privilege should apply to the News' article. Reuber contends that the News should not be accorded a fair report privilege because the factual predicate for the privilege, a report on a government action or document, is absent in this case. In this respect, he argues that the reprimand letter constitutes the actions of private entities, Hanna and the FCRC, rather than governmental entities. We believe, on the contrary, that the letter does qualify as official action for the purposes of a fair report privilege. The decision to discipline Reuber, and the letter embodying this decision, "invoked the power and prestige of the National Cancer Institute so as to make the decision a governmental one in perception as well as reality." Reuber v. United States, 750 F.2d 1039, 1057 (D.C.Cir.1984). For example, the letterhead on which Hanna wrote the reprimand states that the FCRC is operated by Litton for the National Cancer Institute, a government agency. The letter also asserts that Reuber operated under the guise of the NCI. Moreover, the letter suggests that Reuber is being disciplined, at least in part, for undermining the public's trust in the National Cancer Institute. These factors together point to the presence of government action.

Reuber also contests the legal foundations for the privilege in this case. In Lee, the circuit recognized three specific rationales for the creation of a fair report privilege as applied to government actions or documents: agency, public supervision, and the public's right to information. 849 F.2d at 878. Under the agency rationale, a reporter acts as an agent for members of an otherwise preoccupied public which could, if it possessed the time, energy, or inclination, inform itself about a government report or action. Reuber argues that the fair report privilege should not shield the News because the agency rationale for the privilege is absent in this case. He states that Hanna intended the letter to be an internal, not a public, reprimand. Consequently, members of the public could not have informed themselves about the reprimand.1

We need not decide in this case whether the agency rationale encompasses only those documents which the government has officially released and which the public would have immediate access to or whether it also encompasses otherwise confidential documents which someone has placed in the public domain. We do not think that the scope of the agency rationale would be dispositive here because the other two rationales for a fair report privilege, public supervision and public information, are plainly present. See, e.g., Medico, 643 F.2d at 136-42 (absence of the agency rationale is not controlling when the other two rationales are present). The public supervision rationale recognizes that news organizations play an important role in providing the public with information it needs to monitor the operations of government. The Hanna letter provides citizens with information they need to evaluate how the carcinogenic