READER'S DIGEST ASSOCIATION, INC., et al., Petitioners, v. THE SUPERIOR COURT OF MARIN COUNTY, Respondent; SYNANON CHURCH et al., Real Parties in Interest, 37 Cal. 3d 244

Summary

Petitioner writer, an employee of petitioner magazine, wrote an article about respondents, a church and its founder, that was published in petitioner magazine. The article described how two writers had received the Pulitzer Prize for a series of articles that were critical of respondent church. Respondents filed a suit for libel and related charges against petitioners. Petitioners' motion for summary judgment, which claimed that respondents were public figures and that no statements in the article were made with actual malice, was denied by the court below. The court subsequently granted a petition for a writ of mandate filed by petitioners and ordered the court below to grant petitioners' motion for summary judgment. The court found that respondents were limited public figures for the purposes of the general controversy because of their massive publicity and self-promotion efforts over a period of many years with regard to the present controversy. Therefore, because the alleged ...