COCKRAM v. Genesco, Inc.

                     United States Court of Appeals
                           FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
                                   ___________

                                   No. 11-2027
                                   ___________

Jessica Cockram,                        *
                                        *
             Appellant,                 *
                                        * Appeal from the United States
      v.                                * District Court for the
                                        * Western District of Missouri.
Genesco, Inc.,                          *
                                        *
             Appellee.                  *
                                   ___________

                              Submitted: November 17, 2011
                                  Filed: June 8, 2012
                                   ___________

Before SMITH, COLLOTON, and GRUENDER, Circuit Judges.
                           ___________

GRUENDER, Circuit Judge.

      Jessica Cockram sued her former employer, Genesco, Inc., after the company
made public statements about Cockram’s involvement in an incident in which a
pernicious racial slur appeared on a return receipt that Cockram handed to a customer.
The district court dismissed Cockram’s claim for false light invasion of privacy and
granted summary judgment in favor of Genesco on her defamation claim. Cockram
now appeals, and we affirm the dismissal of the false light claim and reverse and
remand the defamation claim.
I.    BACKGROUND1

       On October 17, 2008, in the course of her duties at a Journeys retail store
owned by Genesco, Cockram assisted Keith Slater, an African-American, with a
merchandise return. For efficiency in processing the return, Cockram entered a
generic phone number, (913) 555-5555, into the store register. Unbeknownst to
Cockram, Richard Hamill, a former employee whom Journeys had fired prior to this
incident, had inserted into a store-level database a racial slur as one of the names
associated with the phone number Cockram entered. Cockram unwittingly selected
the entry with the racial slur from the list of names associated with the phone number.
She then printed a return receipt that included the racial slur, signed it without reading
it, and handed it to Slater.

      The next day, Slater, accompanied by members of his family, returned to
Journeys with the return receipt. Slater’s sister demanded Cockram’s name, and
Cockram complied. Slater and his family were outraged about the incident and told
people in and near Journeys about what had happened, resulting in what Cockram
described as a “riot.”

      On October 20, Genesco fired Cockram. In response to inquiries about the
incident, Genesco provided a statement (“first statement”) on October 21, 2008,
reading:

             While we are continuing to investigate this incident, it now
      appears that an employee in one of our stores entered highly
      inappropriate statements in a form used to process a merchandise return.
      Needless to say, such an act was not authorized by Journeys, and will not
      be tolerated. This employee has been terminated.


      1
       The facts in this opinion are stated in the light most favorable to Cockram. See
Smith v. Arrington Oil & Gas, Inc., 664 F.3d 1208, 1212 (8th Cir. 2012).

                                           -2-
            At Journeys, we pride ourselves on valuing and respecting every
      customer. We are shocked and sickened that a former associate could be
      responsible for an act so out of keeping with our culture and our values.
      We profoundly regret this incident.

       Multiple news stories regarding the incident quoted the first statement, and
some people posting comments to the online versions of those stories labeled as racist
the involved employee. Additionally, after Genesco released the statement, Cockram
received numerous messages and calls from people who called her a racist, blamed her
for the racial slur, and threatened her. These accusations and threats made Cockram
fearful, and she moved out of her apartment and temporarily placed her young child
with her parents.

       On October 22, 2008, Genesco learned that a different former employee, later
identified as Hamill, may have been involved with the return-receipt incident.
Genesco determined that the substance of the first statement was valid, but it also
issued the following clarifying statement (“clarification”):

            The inappropriate references were entered by employees in the
      Overland Park store in a store-level customer database. No pre-
      programmed transaction codes were involved.

            We are currently working to develop mechanisms that allow us to
      monitor the store-level customer databases more closely than has been
      possible in the past, in an effort to ensure that nothing like this ever
      happens again.

      Cockram sued Genesco for defamation and false light invasion of privacy based
on the content of the first statement and the clarification. The district court granted
Genesco’s motion to dismiss Cockram’s false light claim because it concluded that
under Missouri law “there is no cause of action for false light invasion of privacy
when recovery is sought for alleged defamatory statements” and that Cockram’s false


                                          -3-
light claim was “based solely on what she explicitly pleads were defamatory
comments.” Cockram v. Genesco, Inc., No. 09-01007-CV-W-JTM, 2010 WL
2349064, at *1-2 (W.D. Mo. June 8, 2010) (emphasis omitted). As to the defamation
claim, the district court granted summary judgment in favor of Genesco because it
determined that Genesco’s statements were substantially true. Cockram now appeals
both rulings.

II.   DISCUSSION

       Our jurisdiction in this case is based on diversity of citizenship, and the parties
agree that Missouri law governs. See Kaufmann v. Siemens Med. Solutions USA, Inc.,
638 F.3d 840, 843 (8th Cir. 2011). We must apply Missouri law as declared by the
Supreme Court of Missouri. Council Tower Ass’n v. Axis Specialty Ins. Co., 630 F.3d
725, 728 (8th Cir. 2011). “If the Supreme Court of Missouri has not addressed an
issue, we must predict how the court would rule, and we follow decisions from the
intermediate state courts when they are the best evidence of Missouri law.” Eubank
v. Kan. City Power & Light Co., 626 F.3d 424, 427 (8th Cir. 2010).

      A.     Defamation

       In a defamation action, a plaintiff must establish: “1) publication, 2) of a
defamatory statement, 3) that identifies the plaintiff, 4) that is false, 5) that is
published with the requisite degree of fault, and 6) damages the plaintiff’s reputation.”
Missouri ex rel. BP Prods. N. Am. Inc. v. Ross, 163 S.W.3d 922, 929 (Mo. 2005)
(quoting Overcast v. Billings Mut. Ins. Co., 11 S.W.3d 62, 70 (Mo. 2000)). In seeking
summary judgment, Genesco argued that Cockram could not establish that the
statements were false, that Genesco published them with the requisite degree of fault,
and that Cockram’s reputation was damaged. The district court addressed only
whether the statements were false and determined that they were not. On appeal,
Genesco reasserts its arguments that Cockram cannot establish the latter three of the
six required elements. See Shelton v. Kennedy Funding, Inc., 622 F.3d 943, 952 (8th
                                           -4-
Cir. 2010) (“We may affirm the district court on any ground finding support in the
record.”). We now consider the arguments relating to these three elements.

       “We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, including its
interpretation of state law.” Raines v. Safeco Ins. Co. of Am., 637 F.3d 872, 875 (8th
Cir. 2011). The district court properly granted summary judgment to Genesco if,
when viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to Cockram, there is “no
genuine issue of material fact” and Genesco “is entitled to judgment as a matter of
law.” Clark v. Matthews Int’l Corp., 639 F.3d 391, 397 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting
Schultz v. Windstream Commc’ns, Inc., 600 F.3d 948, 951 (8th Cir. 2010)). “A
genuine issue of material fact exists if a reasonable jury could return a verdict for”
Cockram. See id. (quoting Humphries v. Pulaski Cnty. Special Sch. Dist., 580 F.3d
688, 692 (8th Cir. 2009)).

      1.     Falsity of the Statements

       We must determine whether the “gist” or “sting” of the statements was false.
See Turnbull v. Herald Co., 459 S.W.2d 516, 519 (Mo. Ct. App. 1970). Under
Missouri law, a statement is not considered “false” for purposes of defamation simply
because it contains an erroneous fact. Thurston v. Ballinger, 884 S.W.2d 22, 26 (Mo.
Ct. App. 1994) (“A person is not bound to exact accuracy in his statements about
another, if the statements are essentially true.”). Rather, if a statement is essentially
true, such that its divergence from the truth “would have no different effect on the
reader’s mind than that produced by the literal truth,” the statement is not actionable
in defamation. See id. (quoting Turnbull, 459 S.W.2d at 519).

      As a preliminary matter, we note that counsel for Genesco conceded at oral
argument that the first statement could be read as referring to Cockram and that
Genesco knew prior to issuing the first statement that Cockram’s name had appeared
in news reports. Moreover, Roger Sisson, an officer at Genesco, agreed during his
deposition that the words “[t]his employee has been terminated” in the first statement
                                           -5-
referred to Cockram. Thus, there is no real dispute that the reference to an
“employee” in the first statement could be interpreted as referring to Cockram.

       Genesco argues that the first statement was truthful as a matter of law because
(1) Cockram did enter a racial slur into a form by selecting it from a list of names, and
(2) her action was not authorized because she used a generic phone number, rather
than entering Slater’s actual information into the register as required by Genesco
policy. We are not persuaded. When the entirety of the first statement is considered
in the light most favorable to Cockram, it can be read as asserting that Cockram
intentionally directed a racial slur at Slater, not just that she violated company policy
requiring the entry of a customer’s actual phone number to generate a return receipt.
In other words, the first statement did not necessarily assert that Cockram was
terminated merely because she violated company policy by entering a generic phone
number into the register and generating a return receipt containing a racial slur without
being conscious of the offensive output. It is not “[n]eedless to say” that Genesco
would not authorize entering a generic phone number and blindly selecting a name
entry in order to expedite a customer’s return. And a reasonable jury may not
consider such a practice by itself to be so out of line with Genesco’s culture and
values as to make Genesco “shocked and sickened.” Instead, the use of these phrases
in Genesco’s statement reasonably could be read to imply that Cockram intentionally
communicated the racial slur. Because Cockram denies that she intentionally
produced a return receipt with a racial slur, and produced evidence supporting this
assertion, a genuine issue of material fact exists as to whether the gist of the first
statement was true. Thus, the district court erred by determining as a matter of law
that the first statement was substantially true.

      Regarding the clarification, Genesco disputes whether that statement referred
to Cockram. To the contrary, the first statement reasonably could be read as saying
that Cockram entered the racial slur into a form, and the clarification does nothing to
indicate that Cockram was not one of the “employees” who entered the racial slur into
the database. Furthermore, the clarification used the plural term “employees,” and
                                           -6-
Genesco has never contended that anyone other than Hamill and Cockram was
involved in the return-receipt incident. Therefore, we conclude that a reasonable jury
could find that the word “employees” in the clarification included Cockram. A jury
also could view as false the clarification’s statement that Cockram entered the racial
slur into a “database.” Even if we were to accept as true that Cockram entered the
racial slur into a “form,” as stated in the first statement, her selection of the racial slur
from a list of names previously stored in a database does not equate to entering the
racial slur into the database in the first place.2 Indeed, Genesco’s investigation
revealed that Hamill entered the racial slur into the database. Thus, the district court
erroneously found as a matter of law that the clarification was substantially true.3

       2.     Requisite Degree of Fault

       Genesco argues that Cockram did not present sufficient evidence that Genesco
published the relevant statements with actual malice, “that is, with knowledge that the
statements were false, or with a reckless disregard as to whether they were true or
false,” which is the applicable standard if Cockram was a limited-purpose public
figure. See Warner v. Kan. City Star Co., 726 S.W.2d 384, 385 (Mo. Ct. App. 1987).
However, if Cockram was simply a private figure, she only needs to show negligence
on the part of Genesco, even if Genesco’s statement is considered to relate to an issue
of “public concern or interest.” See Englezos v. Newspress & Gazette Co., 980


       2
        Genesco asserts that Cockram did not argue before the district court that the
clarification was false based on its statement that Cockram entered the racial slur into
a database, as opposed to a form, and that this argument is therefore waived. We
conclude, however, that Cockram sufficiently argued the falsity of this portion of the
clarification before the district court.
       3
        Because of our conclusion that there is a genuine issue of material fact as to
whether Genesco’s statements were false, we do not address “whether ‘truth’ is an
affirmative defense to be proved by defendant, or ‘falsity’ is an element of the cause
of action to be proved by plaintiff.” See Kenney v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 100 S.W.3d
809, 814 n.2 (Mo. 2003).
                                            -7-
S.W.2d 25, 30-31 (Mo. Ct. App. 1998). Thus, we must decide whether Cockram was
a limited-purpose public figure or, as Cockram contends, a private figure.

       In explaining the rationale for the differing burdens borne by public figures and
private figures in defamation suits, the Supreme Court noted that public figures are
more likely to have access to the media to minimize a defamatory statement’s
“adverse impact on reputation,” and, more importantly, public figures typically “thrust
themselves to the forefront of particular public controversies in order to influence the
resolution of the issues involved,” thus “invit[ing] attention and comment.” Gertz v.
Robert Welch, Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 344-45 (1974). The Court did state, however, that,
“[h]ypothetically, it may be possible for someone to become a public figure through
no purposeful action of his own, but the instances of truly involuntary public figures
must be exceedingly rare.” Id. at 345. A limited-purpose public figure “is defined as
one who ‘voluntarily injects himself or is drawn into a particular public controversy
and thereby becomes a public figure for a limited range of issues.’” Stepnes v.
Ritschel, 663 F.3d 952, 963 (8th Cir. 2011) (quoting Gertz, 418 U.S. at 351). An
examination of “the ‘nature and extent of an individual’s participation in the particular
controversy giving rise to the defamation’ . . . [allows for a determination of] whether
the individual has voluntarily and purposefully injected himself into that controversy
in an attempt to influence the resolution of the controversy.” Lundell Mfg. Co. v. Am.
Broad. Cos., 98 F.3d 351, 362 (8th Cir. 1996) (quoting Gertz, 418 U.S. at 352).

        Here, Cockram entered a generic phone number into the register that resulted
in a racial slur appearing on a return receipt and found herself in the middle of a public
controversy. She did not “voluntarily inject” herself into a preexisting controversy,
nor did she knowingly produce the racial slur that initiated the controversy. It was
only after the controversy arose and Genesco blamed Cockram for the racial slur by
issuing the first statement that Cockram responded to media inquiries in an attempt
to salvage her reputation. See Hutchinson v. Proxmire, 443 U.S. 111, 134-35 (1979)
(stating that the defendant’s argument that the plaintiff was a limited-purpose public
figure based on the plaintiff’s access to the media was unavailing where, inter alia,
                                           -8-
the plaintiff’s access to the media occurred after the alleged libel). When Cockram
ultimately did agree to be interviewed, she insisted that her name not be used, thus
indicating an intent to defend her reputation among those who knew that she was the
subject of the reports while avoiding any additional exposure among those unaware
of her involvement in the incident. And, even though Cockram succeeded in gaining
some access to the media, the more important point is that she did not voluntarily
place herself at the center of controversy, but merely found herself there. See Gertz,
418 U.S. at 344-45 (“More important than the likelihood that private individuals will
lack effective opportunities for rebuttal, there is a compelling normative consideration
underlying the distinction between public and private defamation plaintiffs. . . .
[Public figures] invite attention and comment.”). Thus, we conclude that Cockram
was a private figure, not a limited purpose public figure. Because private figures need
only show negligence to recover for defamation, and Genesco does not argue that
Cockram failed to produce sufficient evidence of negligence, Genesco’s argument for
affirmance based on the “requisite degree of fault” element fails.

      3.     Damages to Cockram’s reputation

       Under Missouri law, “proof of actual reputational harm is an absolute
prerequisite in a defamation action.” Kenney v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., 100 S.W.3d
809, 817 (Mo. 2003). Because “rules of per se and per quod” defamation do not apply
in Missouri, a plaintiff must always prove actual damages. Id. at 815. “To
demonstrate actual damages [in Missouri], plaintiffs must show that defamatory
statements caused a quantifiable professional or personal injury, such as interference
with job performance, psychological or emotional distress, or depression.” Arthaud
v. Mut. of Omaha Ins. Co., 170 F.3d 860, 862 (8th Cir. 1999). “[T]he question of
whether a plaintiff’s damages were caused by the defamatory statement is for the jury
to decide,” Topper v. Midwest Div., Inc., 306 S.W.3d 117, 130 (Mo. Ct. App. 2010)
(quoting Johnson v. Allstate Indem. Co., 278 S.W.3d 228, 235 (Mo. Ct. App. 2009)),
unless a court can determine that a plaintiff failed to meet her burden of production,
see Nazeri v. Mo. Valley Coll., 860 S.W.2d 303, 314 (Mo. 1993).
                                          -9-
       Genesco argues that it is entitled to summary judgment because Cockram
“failed to present any evidence that Genesco’s statements caused her reputational
damage and cannot differentiate between damages that she allegedly sustained as a
result of Genesco’s statements and damages resulting from the media’s coverage of
the receipt incident before Genesco published any statements.” When the facts are
viewed in the light most favorable to Cockram and all reasonable inferences are made
in her favor, see BP Group, Inc. v. Kloeber, 664 F.3d 1235, 1239 (8th Cir. 2012), the
evidence is sufficient to allow a reasonable jury to find actual reputational harm
flowing from Genesco’s statements.

      Cockram argues that there are multiple pieces of evidence indicating that her
reputation was harmed by Genesco’s statements. She stated that “[p]eople posting
comments to media stories carrying Genesco’s statement would call me racist.” For
example, one person writing a comment in response to an online article containing
Genesco’s first statement said that a “racist teenager entered the words on their [sic]
own” and was “rightfully fired.” Cockram also received numerous messages
containing threats and accusations of racism after Genesco released the first statement.
Cockram claims that these “accusations and threats made [her] afraid and [she] moved
out of [her] apartment and placed [her] child with [her] parents temporarily.”
Cockram’s father confirmed that Cockram was so concerned about the threats that she
asked him to allow her daughter to live with him for a period. Furthermore,
Cockram’s father stated that his family’s friends and acquaintances contacted him and
questioned whether Cockram was racist after the stories with Genesco’s statements
appeared. Thus, we cannot say as a matter of law that Cockram cannot show actual
reputational harm.4

      4
        Although we do not assume damages, one certainly can suffer severe
reputational harm if accused of a racist act. See Rush v. Perryman, 579 F.3d 908, 912
(8th Cir. 2009) (noting that a government employee’s constitutionally protected
liberty interests can be implicated when an employer accuses an employee of an act
involving racism, an accusation that can be “so damaging as to make it difficult or
impossible for the employee to escape the stigma of [that] charge[]” (quoting Winegar
                                         -10-
        Genesco relies on Kenney v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. in arguing that even if
Cockram can demonstrate that she incurred reputational harm, she cannot differentiate
between harm from Genesco’s statements and any harm from the news reports that did
not include Genesco’s statements. In Kenney, the plaintiff initially had prevailed at
trial on her claim that a poster was defamatory during a portion of the time that it was
displayed. 100 S.W.3d at 811. The defendant appealed, and the court noted that it
appeared that the plaintiff failed to distinguish the harm from the poster at issue from
the harm resulting from a television broadcast, ninety-nine identical posters, and the
poster at issue when it was displayed at a time that the information was accurate. Id.
at 818. However, the court also noted that the plaintiff “felt that the injury to her
reputation from the poster was ‘equally painful and devastating’ to that of the
television broadcast’” and “believed ‘they [were] the same kind of injury.’” Id. at 812
(alteration in original). The court then observed that a prior decision “denied recovery
because the plaintiff ‘could not differentiate between the damages, if any, attributable
to the defendant and the damages attributable to [a third person].’” Id. at 818 (quoting
Taylor v. Chapman, 927 S.W.2d 542, 544 (Mo. Ct. App. 1996)). Ultimately,
however, the Kenney court remanded for a new trial, rather than reversing, stating that
although “Kenney may face substantial obstacles in meeting her burden of proof on
retrial,” it could not “say that it is impossible for her to present a submissible case.”5
Id.

      Cockram is in a better position to delineate the source of her reputational harm
than was the plaintiff in Kenney. For example, comments to online news stories
containing portions of Genesco’s first statement provide evidence that some readers


v. Des Moines Indep. Cmty. Sch. Dist., 20 F.3d 895, 899 (8th Cir. 1994))).
      5
       The Kenney court held that the jury instruction regarding the question of
damages was erroneous. Kenney, 100 S.W.3d at 814. Thus, we recognize that the
Kenney court may not have viewed as sufficient the showing the plaintiff made at the
original trial, but remanded, rather than reversing, to allow the plaintiff to present
different evidence in light of a proper jury instruction.
                                          -11-
viewed Cockram as a racist after reading Genesco’s statement. Additionally, in
contrast to the plaintiff in Kenney, Cockram did not suggest that Genesco’s statements
placing blame on her inflicted the “same kind of injury” as the generic news stories
covering the incident. Indeed, a news story that includes Genesco’s statement placing
blame on Cockram is likely to cause a greater degree of harm to reputation than one
simply providing general information about the incident. Finally, Cockram’s receipt
of personal threats and messages accusing her of racism after Genesco released its
statements (where Genesco points to no instances in the record of Cockram receiving
such personal messages before Genesco’s first statement despite three prior days of
news coverage) also supports her causation argument. Under these circumstances, a
reasonable jury could conclude that at least some of the reputational harm Cockram
suffered resulted from Genesco’s statements blaming her for using the racial slur as
opposed to news stories that did not mention Genesco’s statements. See Topper, 306
S.W.3d at 129-30 (determining that a “jury may well have inferred” that false statistics
“played a role in the removal” of the plaintiff from his position when the statistics
were published prior to his termination and made his management “look very bad,”
even though other negative statements were made about the plaintiff that could have
contributed to the loss of his job). Accordingly, we cannot say that a properly
instructed jury will be unable to address reasonably the question of causation. See
Kenney, 100 S.W.3d at 818 (stating, where there is evidence that some harm may have
been caused by a non-actionable statement, that a jury should be instructed to attribute
liability to a defendant only for loss allocable to an actionable statement). Therefore,
we decline to affirm on this ground.

     In sum, Cockram is a private figure and a reasonable jury could conclude that
Genesco’s statements were false, that they harmed Cockram’s reputation, and that this
harm was distinguishable from any harm flowing from the generic news stories.
Hence, the district court erred by granting summary judgment to Genesco on
Cockram’s defamation claim.



                                         -12-
      B.      False Light Invasion of Privacy

       Cockram argues that the district court erred in holding that Missouri does not
recognize a cause of action for false light invasion of privacy when a claim is
premised solely on alleged defamatory statements. We review de novo the dismissal
of Cockram’s claim, “accepting the allegations contained in the complaint as true and
drawing all reasonable inferences in favor of the nonmoving party.” Express Scripts,
Inc. v. Aegon Direct Mktg. Servs., Inc., 516 F.3d 695, 698 (8th Cir. 2008) (internal
citation omitted). We agree with the district court that Missouri would not recognize
Cockram’s claim for false light invasion of privacy under the facts of this case.

        In Sullivan v. Pulitzer Broadcasting Co., the Missouri Supreme Court observed
that it had “not yet recognized a cause of action apart from defamation for a ‘false
light’ invasion of privacy.” 709 S.W.2d 475, 478 (Mo. 1986). The Sullivan court
noted that “[m]any questions now surround the ‘false light’ theory, one of which is
whether such an action is even necessary.” Id. It further observed that “the ‘false
light’ theory under [Restatement (Second) of Torts] § 652E resembles a defamation
suit because each action requires the publication of false information.” Id. (emphasis
added) (footnote omitted). In fact, Sullivan stated that “[t]he only apparent difference
between false light and defamation is that the latter protects one’s interest in his or her
reputation, while the former protects one’s interest in the right to be let alone.” Id. at
479 (emphasis in original) (quotation omitted). Ultimately, the court declined to
recognize a separate tort for false light invasion of privacy under the facts of the case.
Id. at 480-81. Cockram, however, latches on to the fact that the court did hypothesize
about factual scenarios that could potentially justify recognition of the tort in the
future. Id. at 480.

       To determine whether Missouri would view Cockram’s allegations as stating
a claim for false light invasion of privacy, it is helpful to examine the facts and
rationale of Sullivan. In Sullivan, the plaintiff alleged that news broadcasts conveyed
the false impression that the plaintiff, who was then a city employee, improperly
                                           -13-
arranged for an architect employed by the city to prepare plans for the plaintiff’s home
and was building the home with materials stolen from the city. Id. at 475. The court
stated that it was “not confronted with a situation where a party alleges that another
has created a false impression in the public eye” and that the case was “nothing more
than the classic defamation action where one party alleges that the other published a
false accusation concerning a statement of fact.” Id. at 481. Furthermore, the court
determined that the plaintiff’s substitution of “the word ‘false’ for the phrase ‘false
impression’” and an allegation of “an injury to reputation” with one for “an injury to
his reputation and an injury to his right to be let alone” was insufficient to treat the
“claim as anything other than a defamation action.” Id.

       In Nazeri v. Missouri Valley College, the Missouri Supreme Court affirmed its
commitment to Sullivan by declining to recognize a false light claim premised on
statements accusing a state employee of being prejudiced against a religious college,
being “opposed to church schools having education programs,” and leaving her
husband and children to live with a homosexual. 860 S.W.2d at 306-07, 317. The
court labeled the claim as a “classic defamation action.” Id. at 317 (quoting Sullivan,
709 S.W.2d at 481).

        With an understanding of these Missouri Supreme Court cases, we now turn to
the complaint in the present matter. In its false light count, Cockram’s complaint
states that Genesco created a “false impression” with knowledge or reckless disregard
of its “falsity.” Just as in Sullivan, the mere use of the words “false impression” is not
sufficient to convert the claim to one of false light invasion of privacy. See Sullivan,
709 S.W.2d at 481. In addition, the complaint’s paragraph alleging harm for the false
light claim alleges “loss of reputation” and is a verbatim copy of the paragraph
alleging harm for the defamation count. Thus, Cockram sought to recover on her false
light count for untrue statements that caused injury to her reputation. Nazeri indicates
that such an action is properly one for defamation, not false light invasion of privacy.
See Nazeri, 860 S.W.2d at 317 (“Recovery for untrue statements that cause injury to
reputation should be in defamation.”). Moreover, the allegedly false statements at
                                          -14-
issue in Sullivan and Nazeri are similar to the statements at issue here in that they
could lead people to believe that the respective plaintiffs had serious professional and
personal faults. Likewise, one would expect harm to reputation and privacy interests
in this case to be similar to that in Sullivan and Nazeri.

       We conclude that the material features of Cockram’s false light claim are
indistinguishable from the features of the claims in Sullivan and Nazeri that were not
recognized as false light claims. Because we are bound to follow decisions of the
Supreme Court of Missouri that sufficiently address the issue before us, we need not
determine whether the Supreme Court of Missouri would recognize a false light claim
in a case such as Meyerkord v. Zipatoni Co., 276 S.W.3d 319 (Mo. Ct. App. 2008),
a Missouri court of appeals case that Cockram relies on, or other hypothetical
situations. See Gage v. HSM Elec. Prot. Servs., Inc., 655 F.3d 821, 826-27 (8th Cir.
2011) (stating that it was unnecessary to consider cases from the state court of appeals
in view of applicable precedent from the state supreme court). Therefore, we agree
with the district court that Missouri would not recognize Cockram’s false light claim.



III.   CONCLUSION

       For these reasons, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of Cockram’s false
light invasion of privacy claim, but we reverse the grant of summary judgment in
favor of Genesco as to Cockram’s defamation claim and remand for further
proceedings.
                       ______________________________




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