Diversified Management, Inc. v. Denver Post, Inc.
Colorado Supreme Court
653 P.2d 1103 (1982)
- Written by Sara Adams, JD
Facts
John Toohey (defendant), a writer for the Denver Post (defendant), published two articles in 1974 which discussed financial dealings of Eugene DeWitt and his company, Diversified Management, Inc. (plaintiffs). The articles covered DeWitt and Diversified Management’s relationship with a banker and various investigations of DeWitt by numerous agencies and government entities. The investigations concerned potentially improper land-development schemes. Some of the lots involved in the schemes were still available for sale. DeWitt and Diversified Management sued for claims including libel. The Denver Post argued that DeWitt and Diversified Management were public figures and that the report implicated matters of public concern. The trial court granted partial summary judgment, holding that some of the statements at issue were not defamatory as a matter of law. At trial, the only remaining claims were those for libel that had not been disposed of by the partial grant of summary judgment. After three weeks of trial, the jury ruled in favor of the Denver Post. DeWitt and Diversified Management appealed the jury verdict.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Rovira, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 832,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 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.
