Werner v. Times-Mirror Co. (193 Cal. App. 2d 111, 1961)

FORD, J. The plaintiff has appealed from a judgment of dismissal entered pursuant to section 581, subdivision 3, of the Code of Civil Procedure upon his failure to file a second amended complaint within the time allowed by the court after a general demurrer to his first amended complaint had been sustained. The cause of action pleaded is predicated upon the theory that there had been an invasion of the plaintiff’s right of privacy. Upon the hearing of a motion to dismiss the action because no bond had been filed as required in an action for libel under the provisions of section 830 of the Code of Civil Procedure, the plaintiff represented to the court that he was not seeking to maintain an action for libel; the motion was denied. The present case arose out of the publication in the Los Angeles Times on December 19, 1958, of an article which is set forth in the margin of this opinion. The allegations of the amended complaint are in substance as follows: 1. The plaintiff was, and now is, a duly licensed attorney at law; he is also known by his nickname, to wit, “Pete Werner”; from 1929 to 1933 he was the duly elected, qualified and acting city attorney of the city of Los Angeles. 2. The defendant was, and now is, the owner and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, a daily newspaper of large and general circulation. 3. On or about December 17, 1958, the plaintiff and his fiancee applied to the County Clerk of Orange County for a marriage license; on or about December 18, 1958, the defendant requested information from the plaintiff concerning his intended marriage; the plaintiff refused to give such information and explained that his fiancée was a Grand Royal Matron of the Order of the Amaranth of the State of California and desired their plans to remain secret until she set a date for the marriage; contrary to such request, the article concerning his application for the marriage license was published (being the article set forth in footnote 1 of this opinion). 4. Such publication of former events in his life caused him ‘ ‘ deep humiliation, emotional distress, anxiety and embarrassment among plaintiff’s many friends and acquaintances, as well as members of the Bench and Bar and various fraternal organizations to which plaintiff belongs, all to his damage in the amount of $400,000.00.” 5. The article was untrue in that it stated that the plaintiff was a political storm center during the Mayor Shaw era “of the 1930s,” whereas in fact he was not an official of the city of Los Angeles during the administration of Mayor Shaw and was not involved in any of the scandals or “in any political storm center” during that administration; such statement “was intended to convey and did convey to the readers of the Los Angeles Times, that plaintiff was involved in and was a part of scandals concerning the regime or administration of Mayor Frank Shaw.” 6. The article was untrue in stating that the plaintiff’s first wife “won the sobriquet of Queen Helen, in the roaring 20s for her domination of Los Angeles politics, inasmuch as any such sobriquet, if any, is one which existed only as it was used by the defendant, and was used by the defendant solely for the purpose of humiliating and embarrassing plaintiff” and of “bringing derision” toward him. 7. The defendant used the word “mastermind” in the article, with respect to the part of plaintiff’s first wife in the plaintiff’s rise to political prominence, “for the purpose of conveying to its readers, and it did convey to its readers a derogatory meaning and was published for the purpose of further embarrassing and humiliating plaiptiff.” 8. The article stated that the plaintiff’s first wife managed his campaign for the office of city attorney after their marriage, which was untrue; she never managed such campaign. 9. The article contained the statement that: “The Werners were rocked by a municipal scandal in the late 1930s involving alleged bribery in connection with Los Angeles Liquor licensing”; that statement was untrue “in that plaintiff was not an official of the City of Los Angeles, and the alleged bribery in connection with Los Angeles liquor licensing [