Howard v. Oakland Tribune

[1126]

Opinion

CHANNELL, J.

The trial court dismissed defamation actions brought by appellants Martha Howard and Stephen Brooks against respondents Oakland Tribune, publisher Robert Maynard, and reporters Jack Cheevers and Paul Grabowicz after the respondents obtained a summary judgment. Howard and Brooks appeal, contending that the underlying Tribune articles were not reports of public official proceedings within the meaning of section 47 of the Civil Code,

1

and thus were not privileged. We affirm the judgments.

I. Facts

On February 28, 1985,

2

the Oakland Tribune published an article stating that Oakland’s Beebe Children’s Center, a state-subsidized child care program, was under investigation by the state Department of Education for alleged misuse of public funds. Among other charges, the article reported that independent audits of the center on file with the state revealed that appellant Stephen Brooks, husband of Beebe’s executive director Delores Brooks, was paid $10,500 for fundraising services, a practice prohibited by state regulation. On March 1, the Tribune reported that the department had cancelled its contract with Beebe, citing 20 violations of state law and its contract. The article repeated the allegation that Stephen Brooks was paid $10,500 for fundraising services. Stephen Brooks sought a retraction from the Tribune, without success. (§ 48a.)

On March 22, the Tribune published a report that the Department of Education had asked Attorney General John Van de Kamp to investigate allegations that Delores Brooks had misused public funds.

3

According to this article, the state cancelled its contract with Beebe Children’s Center because its director allegedly used state child care funds for personal, political, and charitable purposes. The article reported that a 36-page “Summary of Findings” from the education department’s investigation alleged that Beebe officials committed hundreds of violations of the center’s state contract and misused tens of thousands of dollars in state funds. Specifically, the report alleged that the center did not collect $1,337 in fees for child care services provided to appellant Martha Howard, Delores Brooks’s sister; and that Stephen Brooks was improperly paid $10,500 in fundraising costs. After the article was published, Stephen Brooks lost his job as executive director of the Bay Area Black United Fund and Howard was forced to