Brief Fact Summary. In a segment, CBS 60 Minutes (Defendant) told the public that a chemical sprayed on Plaintiff’s apples was dangerous. Plaintiffs sued Defendant for product disparagement.
Synopsis of Rule of Law. For a product disparagement claim to be actionable, Plaintiff must prove, inter alia, the falsity of the disparaging statements.
For example, the slur all lawyers are shysters may be offensive to those lawyers who are not, but no attorney could reasonably complain that he personally has sustained damage to his character and reputation by operation of such a vacuous generality.
View Full Point of LawIssue. In order to prove product disparagement, must Plaintiffs show that the statements were false?
Held. Yes. Judgment affirmed.
* For a product disparagement claim to be actionable, Plaintiff must prove, inter alia, the falsity of the disparaging statements. In this case, Plaintiffs offered evidence showing that no studies have been conducted to test the relationship between ingestion of daminozide and incidence of cancer in humans. Such evidence, however, is insufficient to show a genuine issue for trial regarding the broadcast’s assertions that daminozide is a potential carcinogen.
* Plaintiffs also offered evidence that no scientific study has been conducted on cancer risks to children from the use of pesticides. However, Defendant’s statement was that the daminozide found on apples is more harmful to children because they ingest more apple products per unit of body weight than do adults. Thus, Plaintiff’s evidence does not create a genuine issue as to the falsity of Defendant’s assertion that daminozide is more harmful to children.
* Despite their inability to prove that statements made during the broadcast were false, Plaintiff assert that summary judgment is improper because a jury could find that the broadcast contained a false message. Plaintiff’s assertion is unprecedented. The Restatement states that a product disparagement plaintiff has the burden of proving the falsity of the statement, not the message.
Discussion. In this case, summary judgment was properly granted to Defendants because Plaintiffs failed to introduce any evidence that the statements themselves were false.