BILL NUMBER: AB 998	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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  expand these provisions to additionally
include libel in a magazine or other periodical publication, either
in print or electronic form   revise these provisions
relating to libel to provide that the publication of a libel be in a
daily 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 online publications are afforded the same protection
under Section 48a of the Civil Code as is afforded to a printed
newspaper to the extent that the online publication performs the same
news-disseminating function as a printed 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 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 not reasonably permit such enterprises to check sources for
accuracy and stories for inadvertent errors. 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 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. 
   SECTION 1.   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  newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication,
either in print or electronic form,   daily 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  newspaper, magazine, or other periodical publication,
either in print or electronic form,   daily 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  newspaper, magazine, or other
periodical publication, either in print or electronic form, 
 daily 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 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 a
week.