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After a year and a half of filings, hearings and motions, a judge Friday dismissed a valley contractor’s libel case against reporter Ed Bushnell and the newspaper Planet Jackson Hole.

Judge Nancy J. Guthrie of Jackson’s 9th District Court filed an order granting summary judgment without a trial based on statements and evidence.

Bushnell and the Planet faced allegations of crafting two lopsided stories concerning a lawsuit involving a Jackson couple and the local contractor they hired to build a Teton Village home. Contractor Clint Cook, wife Lisa St. Martin Cook and his CC Builders company filed suit against the reporter and newspaper in February 2005.
In her July motion for summary judgment, Planet lawyer Jessica Rutzick said the case should be dismissed because the articles written by Bushnell contained only true information. Rutzick renewed the motion in September. Guthrie agreed with her.

“Quite simply, the initial inquiry is, was there a false statement made in the Planet Jackson Hole articles? The answer is NO,” Guthrie wrote in her judgment. “Both Planet Jackson Hole articles made it perfectly clear that the statements were nothing more than allegations and would be determined by the court at a later date. The statements in the two articles were taken directly from pleadings filed in court proceedings. These pleadings were on file in the clerk of the district court’s office for public perusal and consumption.”

In addition to arguing that the articles contained only truth, Rutzick also filed two other motions for summary judgment in July.

Because the judge granted the dismissal based on substantial truth, there was no need to address the other two motions.
“We are very pleased with the court’s decision and the protection of our First Amendment rights to free speech and to truthfully reporting public proceedings,” Rutzick said, reading her official statement. “This ruling encourages the news media to continue to serve as the public’s ‘watchdog’ with respect to matters of public concern without the fear of being wrongfully sued for libel.”

Bushnell’s articles concerned a dispute between CC Builders and Wayne and Pamela Garrison. The Garrisons had hired CC Builders to construct their Teton Village home and filed a suit against the contractor for alleged over-billing. They claimed CC Builders overcharged them $1.4 million for their $4 million Granite Ridge house.

Jackson attorney Ken Cohen filed a complaint against the Planet in February 2005 on behalf of the Cooks. They alleged Bushnell’s stories, published in 2004, intentionally failed to include their response and counterclaims and cost the couple more than $2 million in lost business. The suit charged the newspaper and Bushnell with libel and conspiracy to commit libel.

Cohen argued the Wyoming Constitution’s freedom of speech section stating “good intent and for justifiable ends” puts into question Bushnell’s motivation for writing the contested stories. Specifically, Article 1, Section 20 states, “in all trials for libel, both civil and criminal, the truth, when published with good intent and [for] justifiable ends, shall be a sufficient defense.”

Rutzick’s argument rested on the fact that Bushnell reported the truth.

“When a newspaper’s report of a court pleading that is of legitimate public interest accurately characterizes the allegations of the pleading and makes clear that they are only allegations that are yet to be proven, there is no falsity, there is no fault and there can be no liability,” Rutzick’s motion stated.

In September, Guthrie determined that the Cooks and CC Builders must pay $132,000 to the Garrisons for overcharging them. The amount is the difference between the Cooks’ overcharging and the Garrison’s withheld payment and admitted price increases.


Printed October 26, 2006