GANNETT FLORIDA CORPORATION, APPELLANT,
v.
CARMEN MONTESANO, APPELLEE
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Gannett Florida Corporation appealed a jury verdict finding it liable in libel, arguing that the plaintiff's pre-suit notice was deficient under Florida Statute 770.01. The court reversed, holding that the notice failed to specify which statements in the article were allegedly false and defamatory, as required by statute.
The notice was insufficient because although it specified the article and attached a copy, it failed to specify which particular statements within the article the plaintiff alleged to be false and defamatory, as expressly required by the statute.
[1] A notice of libel action must specify the article and the statements therein alleged to be false and defamatory, as required by Florida Statute 770.01.
[2] Failure to specify the allegedly false and defamatory statements within a libel notice renders that notice insufficient under Florida Statute 770.01.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“Before any civil action is brought for publication, in a newspaper or periodical, of a libel, the plaintiff shall, at least five days before instituting such action, serve notice in writing on defendant, specifying the article, and the statements therein, which he alleges to be false and defamatory.”
The statutory requirement that pre-suit notice for libel actions must specify not only the article but also the particular statements within it that are claimed to be false and defamatory.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGannett Florida Corporation published an article on May 10, 1970 in its newspaper "Today" recounting a dispute between Montesano (a service station op…
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BOYER, Acting Chief Judge.
Appellant here, defendant in the trial court, appeals from a final judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict in a libel action.
On May 10, 1970 appellant published in its newspaper “Today” an article reciting a dispute between appellee and one Floyd Raines regarding an alleged faulty repair job on an automobile owned by Raines, appellee being the operator of a service station at which the repairs were allegedly made. The article further reported that Raines had signed a car theft warrant in the office of a justice of the peace but that the constable had not served the warrant on appellee. On October 11, 1971, five months after the publication of the article appellee’s attorney wrote to appellant the following letter:
“Pursuant to Florida Statute 770.01, you are hereby notified that a civil action for libel will be brought against The Gannett Florida Corporation in the Circuit Court of Volusia County Florida, after five days from the service of this notice for the publication in the newspaper “Today” on or about May 10, 1970, of the attached article which was false and defamatory in that it imputed a crime to my client, Mr. Carmen Montesano.”
Appellant responded to the above letter, declining to publish a retraction. Appellee thereupon filed the suit which culminated in the entry of the judgment here appealed.
Appellant contends that appellee’s notice is insufficient under Florida Statute 770.-01. We agree. That statute provides as follows:
“Before any civil action is brought for publication, in a newspaper or periodical, of a libel, the plaintiff shall, at least five days before instituting such action, serve notice in writing on defendant, specifying the article, and the statements therein, which he alleges to be false and defamatory.”
An examination of plaintiff’s notice above quoted in toto with the applicable statute, also above quoted in toto, readily reveals the deficiency. The statute clearly and expressly requires the notice to specify “the article, and the statements therein, which he [plaintiff] alleges to be false and defamatory.” Although plaintiff’s notice specified the article and attached a copy thereof there is no specification as to the statements therein alleged to be false and defamatory. The notice was therefore insufficient. (See special concurring opinion in Adams v. News-Journal Corporation, Sup.Ct.Fla.1955, 84 So. 2d 549)
.Finding, as we do, that the notice was insufficient to sustain the commencement of the action, we find it unnecessary to consider the other points raised on this appeal.
Reversed and remanded with directions to enter a judgment in favor of the defendant in the trial court, appellant here.
McCORD and MILLS, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Edward L. Nezelek, Inc. v. Sunbeam Television Corp., 413 So. 2d 51 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)…ough the notice was insufficient for failure to specifically identify the article, the complaint was susceptible to further pleading by way of amendment, as necessary to achieve the conclusion of the court. Gannett Florida Corporation v. Montesano, 308 So. 2d 599 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), cert. denied, 317 So. 2d 78 (Fla.1975) was an appeal from a final judgment entered pursuant to a jury verdict in a libel action. The plaintiff had sent a written demand of retraction and the defendant had responded to that deman…
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Cook v. Pompano Shopper, Inc., 582 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991)…ure of the notices to “specify with particularity” the alleged defamatory statements. See generally Hulander v. Sunbeam Television Corp., 364 So. 2d 845 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978), cert. denied, 373 So. 2d 459 (Fla.1979); Gannett Florida Corp. v. Montesano, 308 So. 2d 599 (Fla. 1st DCA), cert. denied, 317 So. 2d 78 (Fla.1975); see also Orlando Sports Stadium, Inc. v. Sentinel Star Co., 316 So. 2d 607 (Fla. 4th DCA 1975). Representative of these cases is Hulander, supra, where the plaintiff had been mentioned in defen…
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Gustav E. Hulander v. Sunbeam Television Corp., 364 So. 2d 845 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)…ments in the offensive broadcast which are alleged to be false and defamatory. Cooper v. Miami Herald Pub. Co. [159 Fla. 296], 31 So. 2d 382 (Fla.1947); Adams v. News Journal Corporation, 84 So. 2d 549 (Fla.1955); Gannett Florida Corp. v. Montesano, 308 So. 2d 599 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975); cert. denied, 317 So. 2d 78 (Fla.1975). “The pertinent portions of the notice given were as follows: ‘We have been retained to pursue a libel action against you for the libelous material which you published on your September 1…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Isham W. Adams v. News-Journal Corp., 84 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 1955)