Clyburn v. News World Communications, Inc.

903 F.2d 29, 284 U.S. App. D.C. 212 (1990)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
C
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Clyburn v. News World Communications, Inc.

United States District Court for the District of Columbia Circuit
903 F.2d 29, 284 U.S. App. D.C. 212 (1990)

SH

Facts

Joann Medina collapsed early in the morning during a party. John Clyburn (plaintiff) was one of the people with Medina at the time of her collapse. A party attendee called 911, and paramedics tried to revive Medina, but she fell into a coma and died four days later. Law enforcement, including the Drug Enforcement Administration, investigated the connection between Medina and the mayor and other high-ranking city officials to determine whether any drug dealing or drug use could be tied to them. Clyburn had a consulting firm and contracts and connections with many government officials. A series of articles in the Washington Times (the Times) (defendant) described Medina’s drug overdose and death in detail as well as the investigation into connections with public officials. The Times articles stated that Clyburn waited several hours before calling 911 to give other party attendees time to leave the party. Clyburn sued News World Communications, Inc. (defendant), publisher of the Times, for libel. The Times filed a motion to dismiss on the grounds that Clyburn was a public figure for the purpose of this case and therefore required to prove actual malice, but Clyburn had not introduced sufficient evidence of actual malice. The trial court granted the motion for summary judgment, and Clyburn appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Williams, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Torts

Key Terms