BILL NUMBER: AB 998	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 25, 2015
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 13, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wagner

                        FEBRUARY 26, 2015

   An act to amend Section 48a of the Civil Code, relating to libel.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 998, as amended, Wagner. Civil law: libel: damages.
   Under existing law, in any action for damages for the publication
of a libel in a newspaper or of a slander by a radio broadcast, the
plaintiff is required to recover no more than special damages unless
a correction is demanded and the correction is not published or
broadcast. If a correction is demanded and the correction is not
published or broadcast in a specified manner in the newspaper or on
the broadcasting station, existing law authorizes the plaintiff to
recover general, special, and exemplary damages provided certain
requirements are met.
   The bill would revise these provisions relating to libel to
provide that the publication of a libel be in a daily  or weekly
 news publication, as defined. This bill would also make
legislative findings regarding libel.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that 
weekly and  online publications are afforded the same
protection under Section 48a of the Civil Code as is afforded to a
 printed   daily  newspaper to the extent
that the  online publication performs   weekly
and online publications perform  the same news-disseminating
function as a  printed   daily  newspaper.
The Legislature finds and declares that the rulings in Burnett v.
National Enquirer, Inc. (1983) 144 Cal.App.3d 991 and Condit v.
National Enquirer, Inc. (2002) 248 F.Supp.2d 945  correctly
state that the purpose   do not fully recognize that the
policy  of Section 48a of the Civil Code  is 
to protect enterprises engaged in the immediate dissemination of news
on matters of public concern, insofar as time  does
  constraints do  not reasonably permit such
enterprises to check sources for accuracy and stories for inadvertent
 errors.   errors, should extend to online
publications and weekly newspapers, which publish breaking news on
deadlines indistinguishable from daily newspapers.  It is not
the intent of the Legislature that Section 48a of the Civil Code
should apply to periodicals that publish at  weekly or
 longer  than weekly  intervals, nor is it the
intent of the Legislature that Section 48a of the Civil Code should
apply to casual postings on a social networking Internet Web site,
chat room, electronic bulletin board, discussion group, online forum,
or other related Internet Web site.
  SEC. 2.  Section 48a of the Civil Code is amended to read:
   48a.  1. In any action for damages for the publication of a libel
in a daily  or weekly  news publication, or of a slander by
radio broadcast, plaintiff shall recover no more than special damages
unless a correction be demanded and be not published or broadcast,
as hereinafter provided. Plaintiff shall serve upon the publisher, at
the place of publication or broadcaster at the place of broadcast, a
written notice specifying the statements claimed to be libelous and
demanding that the same be corrected. Said notice and demand must be
served within 20 days after knowledge of the publication or broadcast
of the statements claimed to be libelous.
   2. If a correction be demanded within said period and be not
published or broadcast in substantially as conspicuous a manner in
said daily  or weekly  news publication, or on said
broadcasting station as were the statements claimed to be libelous,
in a regular issue thereof published or broadcast within three weeks
after such service, plaintiff, if he pleads and proves such notice,
demand and failure to correct, and if his cause of action be
maintained, may recover general, special and exemplary damages;
provided that no exemplary damages may be recovered unless the
plaintiff shall prove that defendant made the publication or
broadcast with actual malice and then only in the discretion of the
court or jury, and actual malice shall not be inferred or presumed
from the publication or broadcast.
   3. A correction published or broadcast in substantially as
conspicuous a manner in said daily  or weekly  news
publication, or on said broadcasting station as the statements
claimed in the complaint to be libelous, prior to receipt of a demand
therefor, shall be of the same force and effect as though such
correction had been published or broadcast within three weeks after a
demand therefor.
   4. As used herein, the terms "general damages," "special damages,"
"exemplary damages" and "actual malice," are defined as follows:
   (a) "General damages" are damages for loss of reputation, shame,
mortification and hurt feelings.
   (b) "Special damages" are all damages which plaintiff alleges and
proves that he has suffered in respect to his property, business,
trade, profession or occupation, including such amounts of money as
the plaintiff alleges and proves he has expended as a result of the
alleged libel, and no other.
   (c) "Exemplary damages" are damages which may in the discretion of
the court or jury be recovered in addition to general and special
damages for the sake of example and by way of punishing a defendant
who has made the publication or broadcast with actual malice.
   (d) "Actual malice" is that state of mind arising from hatred or
ill will toward the plaintiff; provided, however, that such a state
of mind occasioned by a good faith belief on the part of the
defendant in the truth of the libelous publication or broadcast at
the time it is published or broadcast shall not constitute actual
malice.
   5. For purposes of this section, a "daily  or weekly 
news publication" means a publication, either in print or electronic
form, that contains news on matters of public concern and that
publishes at least  five days   once  a
week.