Tannerite Sports, LLC v. NBCUniversal News Group
45 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 2093, 864 F.3d 236, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 13380 (2017)
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Rule of Law:
Under contemporary New York defamation law, falsity is a required element of the claim, not merely an affirmative defense. To survive a motion to dismiss in federal court, a plaintiff must plead sufficient facts to make it plausible that the defendant's statements were not substantially true, meaning they would have a worse effect on the mind of an ordinary reader than the literal truth would have.
Facts:
- Tannerite Sports, LLC ('Tannerite') manufactures and sells exploding rifle targets for recreational shooting.
- The product consists of two separately packaged chemicals, ammonium nitrate and aluminum powder, which remain inert until mixed together by the user.
- Once mixed, the compound detonates when struck by a high-velocity bullet, creating an explosion to signal a successful shot.
- NBCUniversal News Group ('NBC') aired a television report and published an online article about the potential dangers of Tannerite's product.
- In the report, an NBC journalist referred to the product as a 'bomb' and stated he was 'basically holding a bomb in my hand.'
- The reports noted that ammonium nitrate, a key ingredient, was used in the Oklahoma City bombing and by terrorists in IEDs.
- An expert interviewed by NBC called the product 'extremely dangerous' and the 'equivalent of buying explosives off the shelf.'
- The reports also showed the two chemical components being mixed and explicitly stated that the product becomes an explosive only after being mixed, clarifying that it was 'not dangerous being in the studio right now.'
Procedural Posture:
- Tannerite Sports, LLC sued NBCUniversal News Group for defamation in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (a federal trial court).
- NBC filed a motion to dismiss the complaint for failure to state a claim under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6).
- In its opposition brief, Tannerite included a request for leave to amend its complaint if the court was inclined to grant NBC's motion.
- The district court granted NBC's motion to dismiss, finding that the challenged statements were substantially true and thus not defamatory.
- The district court also denied Tannerite's motion for leave to amend the complaint, ruling that any amendment would be futile.
- Tannerite (appellant) appealed the district court's judgment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with NBC as the appellee.
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Issue:
Does a defamation complaint under New York law fail to state a claim in federal court if the plaintiff does not plead facts demonstrating that the defendant's statements were not substantially true?
Opinions:
Majority - Pooler, Circuit Judge
Yes, a defamation complaint fails to state a claim if it does not plausibly allege facts showing the defendant's statements were not substantially true. Under modern New York law, falsity is an essential element of a defamation claim that the plaintiff must plead and prove. When this state law claim is brought in federal court, it is subject to the federal pleading standards of Twombly and Iqbal, which require the plaintiff to plead factual content that allows the court to draw a reasonable inference of the defendant's liability. Because the 'substantial truth' doctrine considers the overall 'gist' of a statement, a plaintiff must allege facts showing why the statement's gist is false. Here, NBC's statements were substantially true. Calling the product a 'bomb' was substantially true because the product's primary and intended purpose is to explode. Furthermore, the reports, when viewed in their entirety, clearly explained that the product's components must be mixed before becoming explosive, thus dispelling any false impression that the targets were dangerous as sold on a store shelf. Because Tannerite failed to plead facts demonstrating that the gist of NBC's reports was false, the complaint was properly dismissed.
Analysis:
This decision solidifies the modern trend in defamation law, particularly under New York's standard, by treating falsity as a core element of the plaintiff's case-in-chief, rather than treating truth as a traditional affirmative defense. By applying federal plausibility pleading standards to this element, the court makes it significantly easier for media defendants to secure early dismissal of defamation suits. The ruling protects journalistic expression that uses dramatic or colloquial language so long as the overall 'gist' of the report is accurate and contextualized. Consequently, future defamation plaintiffs must come to court with specific factual allegations demonstrating from the outset how a challenged publication is substantially false, not just technically inaccurate.
