{ "id": 126429, "name": "MAPLE LANES, INC., d/b/a Frankies, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. NEWS MEDIA CORPORATION, d/b/a Rochelle News Leader, Defendant-Appellee (Mel Messer et al., Defendants)", "name_abbreviation": "Maple Lanes, Inc. v. News Media Corp.", "decision_date": "2001-06-05", "docket_number": "No. 2 \u2014 00\u20140353", "first_page": "842", "last_page": "845", "citations": [ { "type": "official", "cite": "322 Ill. App. 3d 842" } ], "court": { "name_abbreviation": "Ill. App. Ct.", "id": 8837, "name": "Illinois Appellate Court" }, "jurisdiction": { "id": 29, "name_long": "Illinois", "name": "Ill." }, "cites_to": [ { "cite": "179 Ill. App. 3d 592", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 2607613 ], "year": 1989, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "594-95", "parenthetical": "privilege did not apply where statements implying that plaintiff stole a car did not appear in the police report defendant relied on" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/179/0592-01" ] }, { "cite": "161 Ill. App. 3d 476", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 3467335 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1987, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "490" }, { "page": "493" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/161/0476-01" ] }, { "cite": "284 Ill. App. 3d 367", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 1260367 ], "year": 1996, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "376" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/284/0367-01" ] }, { "cite": "145 Ill. App. 3d 1032", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 3536992 ], "year": 1986, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "1037-38" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/145/1032-01" ] }, { "cite": "197 Ill. App. 3d 23", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 2481100 ], "weight": 3, "year": 1990, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "27" }, { "page": "27" }, { "page": "27", "parenthetical": "connection between plaintiffs arrest for \"soliciting a ride\" and prostitution came directly from police officer's statement" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/197/0023-01" ] }, { "cite": "308 Ill. App. 3d 713", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 261399 ], "weight": 2, "year": 1999, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "717" }, { "page": "717" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/308/0713-01" ] }, { "cite": "154 Ill. 2d 90", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 4820940 ], "year": 1992, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "102" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/154/0090-01" ] }, { "cite": "266 Ill. App. 3d 154", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. App. 3d", "case_ids": [ 887290 ], "year": 1994, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "159" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-app-3d/266/0154-01" ] }, { "cite": "155 Ill. 2d 402", "category": "reporters:state", "reporter": "Ill. 2d", "case_ids": [ 4810152 ], "year": 1993, "pin_cites": [ { "page": "411" } ], "opinion_index": 0, "case_paths": [ "/ill-2d/155/0402-01" ] } ], "analysis": { "cardinality": 492, "char_count": 8158, "ocr_confidence": 0.773, "pagerank": { "raw": 7.258294363312187e-08, "percentile": 0.4325821698485124 }, "sha256": "a5b5950dc9562e69656fb5bfa8b477c79060a0cdb334081748cce58925876d09", "simhash": "1:bb2e530fc31dd844", "word_count": 1297 }, "last_updated": "2023-07-14T19:05:07.459628+00:00", "provenance": { "date_added": "2019-08-29", "source": "Harvard", "batch": "2018" }, "casebody": { "judges": [], "parties": [ "MAPLE LANES, INC., d/b/a Frankies, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. NEWS MEDIA CORPORATION, d/b/a Rochelle News Leader, Defendant-Appellee (Mel Messer et al., Defendants)." ], "opinions": [ { "text": "JUSTICE CALLUM\ndelivered the opinion of the court:\nPlaintiffs, Maple Lanes, Incorporated, and Kenneth George, Sr., appeal the circuit court\u2019s order granting summary judgment to defendant News Media Corporation, the publisher of the Rochelle News Leader (News Media). Plaintiffs alleged that an article published in defendant\u2019s newspaper defamed them. The trial court ruled that the allegedly defamatory statement was an accurate summary of a statement made by defendant Mel Messer, the sheriff of Ogle County, and was therefore protected by the governmental report privilege. Plaintiff appeals, contending that the newspaper\u2019s report changed the \u201cgist or sting\u201d of the statement and was therefore not privileged. We reverse and remand.\nOn May 9, 1996, the Rochelle News Leader ran a front-page story about the arrest of a local restauranteur on drug charges. The story included the following quote attributed to Messer, set in large, italic type: \u201cWe are targeting businesses that supplement their income with cocaine and drug sales, just like we did with Frankies in Rochelle.\u201d\nPlaintiffs sued Messer, the Ogle County sheriffs department, and News Media. Maple Lanes owns Frankies, a restaurant in Rochelle. George is the president and principal shareholder of Maple Lanes. Plaintiffs claimed that Messer\u2019s statement, as quoted by the newspaper, was false and defamatory.\nDuring lengthy pretrial proceedings, Messer filed an affidavit in which he stated that his actual statement was \u201cWe are targeting businesses whose employees are supplementing their income with cocaine and drug sales, just like we did with Frankies in Rochelle.\u201d (Emphasis added.) News Media responded with the affidavit of Laurie Weissmann Sodaro, the reporter who wrote the story, in which she averred that she accurately quoted Messer.\nThe trial court dismissed Messer and the sheriffs department because they were immune from suit and plaintiffs do not appeal that decision. The court also granted summary judgment to News Media on the ground that the allegedly defamatory statement was covered by the governmental report privilege, also known as the \u201cfair report\u201d privilege. The court held that, assuming the newspaper story abridged Messer\u2019s statement by eliminating the reference to \u201cemployees,\u201d it did not change the \u201cgist or sting\u201d of the statement. Plaintiffs filed a timely notice of appeal.\nPlaintiffs contend that the trial court erred in holding that the fair report privilege immunized News Media for the allegedly defamatory article. Plaintiffs argue that by deleting the words \u201cemployees of\u2019 from Messer\u2019s statement, defendant changed the gist of the statement by implying that the business as a whole and George in particular participated in or condoned drug sales by its employees.\nThe trial court granted News Media\u2019s motion for summary judgment. Summary judgment is proper when the pleadings, depositions, and affidavits demonstrate that no genuine issue of material fact exists and that the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. 735 ILCS 5/2 \u2014 1005(c) (West 1998). The court must construe the evidence strictly against the movant and liberally in favor of the nonmoving party. In re Estate of Hoover, 155 Ill. 2d 402, 411 (1993); Ahlgren v. Blue Goose Supermarket, Inc., 266 Ill. App. 3d 154, 159 (1994). We. review de nova an order granting summary judgment. Outboard Marine Corp. v. Liberty Mutual Insurance Co., 154 Ill. 2d 90, 102 (1992).\nThe governmental report privilege protects news accounts based on statements of governmental agencies and officials in their official capacities. Tepper v. Copley Press, Inc., 308 Ill. App. 3d 713, 717 (1999). A report is privileged if it is an accurate and complete report of proceedings, or a fair abridgement of them. Tepper, 308 Ill. App. 3d at 717; Restatement (Second) of Torts \u00a7 611, at 297 (1977). The court makes this determination by comparing the official report with the news media account. If the gist or sting of the defamation in the official report is the same as the gist or sting in the news account, then the news item is a fair abridgement of the proceedings. Dolatowski v. Life Printing & Publishing Co., 197 Ill. App. 3d 23, 27 (1990); O\u2019Donnell v. Field Enterprises, Inc., 145 Ill. App. 3d 1032, 1037-38 (1986). The accuracy of the summary, not the truth or falsity of the information being summarized, is the \u201cbenchmark of the privilege.\u201d Gist v. Macon County Sheriff\u2019s Department, 284 Ill. App. 3d 367, 376 (1996). Although the literal language of the Restatement limits the privilege to reports of \u201cproceedings,\u201d it has been extended to the statements of law enforcement officials in their official capacities. See Dolatowski, 197 Ill. App. 3d at 27.\nHere, there is an obvious factual dispute about what Sheriff Messer actually said. Messer claimed he said that \u201cemployees of\u201d Frankies were selling drugs, while Sodaro averred that he referred to \u201cbusinesses\u201d such as Frankies that sell drugs. Because we are reviewing the grant of summary judgment for defendant, we construe the evidence strictly against the moving party. Therefore, we will assume that Messer said that \u201cemployees of\u2019 Frankies were selling drugs.\nWith that in mind, we cannot say that as a matter of law the story contained an accurate summary of Messer\u2019s statement. A fair reading of the sheriffs comment was that individual employees of Frankies were supplementing their incomes through drug sales. The statement as reported can be read as implying that the business itself was receiving the profits from drug sales and that George, as the president and principal shareholder of the corporation, knew of and condoned the sales. A jury could find that defendant changed the gist of the statement by referring to the business as a whole and to George rather than to individual employees.\nThis case is similar to Berkos v. National Broadcasting Co., 161 Ill. App. 3d 476 (1987). There, a television station reported on an indictment against a Chicago police officer alleging that he committed \u201c \u2018multiple acts involving bribery.\u2019 \u201d Berkos, 161 Ill. App. 3d at 490. The indictment listed particular cases in which the officer was alleged to have influenced the result. By researching judicial assignment records, a reporter discovered that plaintiff, a Cook County judge, was presiding in the courtroom where one of the cases was heard. The station broadcast a story implying that plaintiff had taken bribes to influence cases. The court held that the privilege did not apply. Only the television station supplied the link between the bribes and Berkos; neither of the documents the station relied on accused Berkos of any wrongdoing. Berkos, 161 Ill. App. 3d at 493; see also Lowe v. Rockford Newspaper, Inc., 179 Ill. App. 3d 592, 594-95 (1989) (privilege did not apply where statements implying that plaintiff stole a car did not appear in the police report defendant relied on). Cf. Dolatowski, 197 Ill. App. 3d at 27 (connection between plaintiffs arrest for \u201csoliciting a ride\u201d and prostitution came directly from police officer\u2019s statement).\nHere, as in Berkos and Lowe, the statement reported did not accuse George or Maple Lanes of criminal activity. The only connection between plaintiffs and drug sales came from the quotation in the story. Therefore, the trial court erred in granting summary judgment on the ground that the statement is privileged.\nThe judgment of the circuit court of Ogle County is reversed, and the cause is remanded for further proceedings.\nReversed and remanded.\nGEIGER and BOWMAN, JJ., concur.", "type": "majority", "author": "JUSTICE CALLUM" } ], "attorneys": [ "Rene Hernandez, of Law Office of Rene Hernandez, P.C., of Rockford, for appellants.", "Denis K. Sheehan, of Norton, Mancini, Argentati, Weiler & DeAno, P.C., of Wheaton, for appellee Ogle County Sheriffs Department.", "Timothy J. Rivelli, Julie A. Bauer, and Peggy M. Balestri, all of Winston & Strawn, of Chicago, for appellee News Media Corporation." ], "corrections": "", "head_matter": "MAPLE LANES, INC., d/b/a Frankies, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. NEWS MEDIA CORPORATION, d/b/a Rochelle News Leader, Defendant-Appellee (Mel Messer et al., Defendants).\nSecond District\nNo. 2 \u2014 00\u20140353\nOpinion filed June 5, 2001.\nRene Hernandez, of Law Office of Rene Hernandez, P.C., of Rockford, for appellants.\nDenis K. Sheehan, of Norton, Mancini, Argentati, Weiler & DeAno, P.C., of Wheaton, for appellee Ogle County Sheriffs Department.\nTimothy J. Rivelli, Julie A. Bauer, and Peggy M. Balestri, all of Winston & Strawn, of Chicago, for appellee News Media Corporation." }, "file_name": "0842-01", "first_page_order": 860, "last_page_order": 863 }