BELLI V. ORLANDO DAILY NEWSPAPERS, INC.
389 F.2d 579 (5th Cir. 1967)
NATURE OF THE CASE: Belli (P) sought review of an order entered in the federal district
court which dismissed P's complaint sounding in defamation for failure to state a claim upon
which relief could be granted and holding that Orlando's (D) statements regarding P were
unambiguously non-defamatory.
FACTS: Handley, an attorney in Orlando, Florida, in a conversation with Miss Jean
Yothers, a columnist for the Orlando Evening Star, repeated a story he had heard concerning
P. Handley told Yothers that the Florida Bar Association had invited P to serve as a member
of one of the panels on the program of the Association at its 1955 Convention in Miami
Beach. P agreed, with the understanding that the Florida Bar would pick up the hotel tab for
himself and his wife during their stay. According to Handley, the Association discovered
that P 'ran up a bunch of [clothing] bills' which they charged to their hotel room. The
derogatory portion of the story was admittedly false: Ps had not charged any purchases to
their hotel account. Jean Yothers reported, with embellishments, this nine-year old story in
her gossip column in the Orlando Evening Star for March 19, 1964. She commented, in part: '*
* * Oops! * * * the plan backfired on the Florida Bar * * [Mr. Belli and 'his well-dressed
wife' had charged] clothing bills amounting to hundreds of * * * to their hotel rooms. * *
* The Florida Bar had been taken. * * * After all, that was the plan!' P brought a diversity
action alleging that (1) Yothers, the Orlando Evening Star (D), and its editor libeled P
through publication of the article, (2) that Handley slandered P in making the false
statement to Yothers, and (3) that all of these parties, with others, participated in a
conspiracy to defame P. The district court dismissed P's complaint for failure to state a
claim upon which relief could be granted because it reasoned that the determination whether
a statement is a libel (or slander) per se is solely for the court. P appealed.
ISSUE:
RULE OF LAW:
HOLDING AND DECISION:
LEGAL ANALYSIS:
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