Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts

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Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts

Argued February 23, 1967
Decided June 12, 1967

Full case name:	Curtis Publishing Company v. Wally Butts

Citations:	388 U.S. 130; 94 S. Ct. 2997; 41 L. Ed. 2d 789; 1974 U.S. LEXIS 88; 1 Media L. Rep. 1633

Prior history:	Cert. to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

Subsequent history:	No. 37, 351 F.2d 702, affirmed; No. 150, 393 S.W.2d 671, reversed and remanded

Holding

Libel damages may be recoverable (in this instance against a news organization) if the injured party is a non-public official; but claimants must demonstrate a reckless lack of professional standards on the part of the organization in examining allegations for reasonable credibility.

Court membership

Chief Justice: Earl Warren
Associate Justices: Hugo Black, William O. Douglas, Tom C. Clark, John Marshall Harlan II, William J. Brennan, Jr., Potter Stewart, Byron White, Abe Fortas

Case opinions

Plurality by: Harlan
Joined by: Clark, Stewart, Fortas
Concurrence by: Warren
Concurrence/dissent by: Black
Joined by: Douglas
Concurrence/dissent by: Brennan
Joined by: White

Laws applied

U.S. Const. amend. I

Curtis Publishing Co. v. Butts, 388 U.S. 130 (1967)^[1], was a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States established the standard of First Amendment protection against defamation claims brought by private individuals. Curtis, no. 37, held that, while news organizations were protected from liability when printing allegations about public officials, they may still be sued by public figures if the information they disseminate is recklessly gathered and unchecked.