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Denver Publishing Co. v. Bueno9/16/2002
JUDGMENT REVERSED AND CASE REMANDED EN BANC
CHIEF JUSTICE MULLARKEY dissents, and JUSTICE MARTINEZ and JUSTICE RICE join in the dissent.
With this case we address whether Colorado permits a plaintiff to sue for the tort of false light invasion of privacy: a cause of action arising out of publicity that unreasonably places another person in a false light before the public. In Bueno v. Denver Publishing Co., 32 P.3d 491 (Colo. App. 2000), the court of appeals answered that question affirmatively, ruling that plaintiff Eddie Bueno's (Bueno) false light claim against the Denver Publishing Company was properly submitted to the jury. To the contrary, we now decline to recognize the tort, concluding that it is highly duplicative of defamation both in interests protected and conduct averted. Further, we find the subjective component of the false light tort raises the spectre of a chilling effect on First Amendment freedoms. We therefore reverse the court of appeals and join those jurisdictions that do not recognize false light as a viable invasion of privacy tort. We remand this case to the court of appeals for consideration of Eddie Bueno's cross-appeal of the trial court's dismissal of his defamation claim.
I. Facts
The Denver Publishing Company, d/b/a/ Rocky Mountain News (the News), published a four-page, thirteen-column article with the bold headline: "Denver's Biggest Crime Family." Ann Carnahan, Denver's Biggest Crime Family, Rocky Mountain News, Aug. 28, 1994, at 20A.
Bueno sued the News and Ann Carnahan, contending the story defamed him and invaded his privacy. In essence, he argued that the article painted him in a false light as having criminal propensities, like many of his siblings.
The story's first page depicted a "family tree," the center of which contained a photo of Della and Pete Bueno on their wedding day in 1937. Mug-shot style photos of their eighteen children encircled the parents' photo; captions summarized each of the Bueno siblings' misdeeds, misfortunes, and, where applicable, criminal records. The caption under Bueno's photo read, "EDDIE, 55 Oldest of the Bueno children." In the first edition of the paper to be published, the caption under Bueno's youngest brother's photo read, "FREDDIE, 28 Only Bueno brother who stayed out of trouble. Living in the Midwest." Defendants changed this caption in a later edition to read, "Freddie, 28 Youngest Bueno child. Living in the Midwest." The revised version omitted the language, "Only brother to stay out of trouble." The article's first-page subtitle declared, "15 of Pete and Della Bueno's 18 children have arrest records, making the clan Denver's biggest crime family." Some twenty-five other statements interspersed throughout the article form the basis of Bueno's claims, among them:
Older siblings lure younger into life of crime [a headline on the article's third page].
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