White v. Town of Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill Police Department officers (officers) (defendants) responded to a hostage situation between William White (plaintiff) and his then fiancée, Rhonda Allen. White and Allen both had a history of mental illness. Allen was outside when the officers arrived, and she told James Hugerich, the crisis-unit supervisor and a police negotiator, that she found White’s journal and that it contained suicidal and homicidal thoughts. Hugerich read White’s journal notes that said White wanted to blow people away and that he could blow out his brains. Allen told Hugerich that White was carrying a .44-caliber revolver. After nearly six hours of negotiation, police secured White and his gun. He was taken to the emergency room and involuntarily committed. White sued the Town of Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill) (defendant) and six officers, individually and in their official capacities, for defamation, among other claims. White alleged that the officers called him a gunman when talking to the press, and that this damaged his reputation within the community and was therefore actionable as slander. White alleged no other particular damages due to the officers’ allegedly defamatory statements. White argued that the word gunman used to describe him was false because he did not wield or brandish a gun. Chapel Hill and the officers moved for summary judgment, arguing that they did not defame White.