Masson v. New Yorker Magazine

111 S.Ct. 2419 (1991).

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Nature of the Case

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Facts

Malcolm (D) interviewed Masson (P), a noted psychoanalyst, for an article in The New Yorker (D1) magazine about the Sigmund Freud Archives. D's article contained quotes purportedly made by P that P claimed were false. Prior to publication P told a fact checker of the alarming number of errors in the article. P claimed that he never said he was the intellectual gigolo of the Freud Archives; that he never said that he wanted to turn the Archives into a place for sex, women, and fun. Similar ideas were expressed by P on D's taped interviews, but P never actually made those statements. The trial court granted a summary judgment to D. The court of appeals affirmed that ruling. P appealed.