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Mullinax v. Miller

In a case of first impression, the Court determined that the defendant was not liable for contributing background information for a published article that accused the plaintiffs of stealing property taxes.

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Plaintiffs Don Mullinax and Roy Dobbs, public officials in Pickens County, filed a libel action against a former candidate for county commissioner, Cheryl Sams, and her campaign committee chairman, C. Mark Miller, based on a statement in one of Sams’ newspaper campaign ads. Miller won summary judgment on the ground that he did not publish the statement in question. Because there was no evidence that Miller exercised any control over the content of the statement, we affirm.

Under the standard of Lau’s Corp. v. Haskins,1 Miller was entitled to summary judgment if he showed an absence of evidence in the record to support an essential element of the plaintiff’s case.2 We review the trial court’s grant of summary judgment de novo, viewing the evidence and all reasonable inferences from it in favor of plaintiffs.3

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