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[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 15-12731
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 5:13-cv-00143-ACC-PRL
LARRY KLAYMAN,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
versus
CITY PAGES,
KEN WEINER,
a.k.a. Ken Avidor,
AARON RUPAR,
PHOENIX NEW TIMES,
MATHEW HENDLEY,
VOICE MEDIA GROUP,
Defendants-Appellees.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(May 27, 2016)
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Before WILLIAM PRYOR, JORDAN, and JILL PRYOR, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Larry Klayman sued six defendants—Ken Avidor, Aaron Rupar, Matthew
Hendley, City Pages, Phoenix New Times, and Voice Media Group—for
defamation and defamation by implication under Florida law. The district court
granted summary judgment in favor of all the defendants and denied Mr.
Klayman’s motions to disqualify the court and to amend his third amended
complaint. Mr. Klayman now appeals. After review of the record and the parties’
briefs, we affirm.
I
Because we write for the parties, we assume their familiarity with the
underlying record and set out only what is necessary to resolve this appeal.
Mr. Klayman sought over $15 million in his defamation suit, which was
based on three internet articles. The complaint was styled in six counts: three
counts for defamation and three counts for defamation by implication. The articles
themselves reported on two separate civil proceedings involving Mr. Klayman.
In June of 2009, Mr. Klayman and Stephanie Luck, his former wife, were
engaged in an acrimonious child custody and support dispute in Ohio, during
which Ms. Luck accused Mr. Klayman of sexually abusing their children. The
magistrate judge in that case made the following findings of fact:
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[O]n more than one occasion the Plaintiff act [sic] in a
grossly inappropriately [sic] manner with the children.
His conduct may not have been sexual in the sense that
he intended to or did derive any sexual pleasure from it
or that he intended that the children would. That,
however, does not mean that he didn’t engage in those
acts or that his behavior was proper.
And for all his protestations of innocence . . . he
repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right against
self-incrimination . . . [Because this is a civil
proceeding,] the Court may draw an adverse inference
from a party’s decision not to respond to legitimate
questions . . . .
D.E. 95-2 at 22. Mr. Klayman filed an objection to the magistrate judge’s order,
but the Ohio trial court overruled the objection. Mr. Klayman appealed, but the
Court of Appeals of Ohio found that the trial court did not abuse its discretion
when it overruled Mr. Klayman’s objections to “the magistrate’s finding that
Klayman inappropriately touched the children.” D.E. 95-6 at 11–14.
In November of 2007, Natalia Humm, Mr. Klayman’s former client, filed a
Florida Bar grievance against him for failing to work on her case after she had paid
him a $25,000 retainer. Mr. Klayman and Ms. Humm submitted the matter to the
Florida Bar Grievance Mediation Program. The parties settled, and Mr. Klayman
agreed to pay Ms. Humm $5,000 within 90 days from the date of the mediation
agreement. Mr. Klayman failed to make timely payments, however, and the
Florida Bar filed a formal complaint with the Florida Supreme Court. Mr.
Klayman eventually agreed to pay the outstanding amount, admitted to violating
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several Rules Regulating the Florida Bar, and consented to a public reprimand by
the Florida Supreme Court. In August of 2011, the Florida Supreme Court
publicly reprimanded Mr. Klayman for failing to comply with the settlement terms.
Counts I and IV—the defamation and defamation by implication claims
against Mr. Avidor, Mr. Rupar, City Pages, and Voice Media Group—are based on
an article authored by Mr. Rupar and published in City Pages on September 28,
2012. The article, titled “Bradlee Dean’s Attorney, Larry Klayman, Allegedly
Sexually Abused His Own Children,” discusses Mr. Klayman’s previous
comments linking homosexuality to child abuse and then quotes the Ohio Court of
Appeals decision upholding the magistrate’s factual findings about Mr. Klayman’s
conduct.
Counts II and V—the defamation and defamation by implication claims
against Mr. Hendley, Phoenix New Times, and Voice Media Group—are based on
an article authored by Mr. Hendley and published in the Phoenix New Times on
February 22, 2013. The article is titled “Birther Lawyer Fighting Joe Arpaio
Recall Was Found to Have ‘Inappropriately Touched’ Kids,” and quotes roughly
the same section of the Ohio Court of Appeals decision that was quoted in the City
Pages article. This February 22, 2013, article reported that “[Mr. Klayman] was
found by a court to have ‘inappropriately touched’ children . . . .” D.E. 52-2 at 1.
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Counts III and VI—the defamation and defamation by implication claims
against Mr. Hendley, Phoenix New Times, and Voice Media Group—are based on
another article authored by Mr. Hendley. This article, published in the Phoenix
New Times on June 18, 2013, and titled, “Larry Klayman Under Investigation by
Arizona Bar,” discussed an investigation by the Arizona Bar into Mr. Klayman’s
efforts to prevent the recall of Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The article provided a link to a
Miami New Times story that discussed Ms. Humm’s Florida Bar grievance. That
Miami New Times story itself included a link; it directed those that clicked it to a
Florida Bar web page that contained several publically available documents
relating to the resolution of Ms. Humm’s grievance against Mr. Klayman,
including the formal complaint, the consent judgment, the report of the referee, and
the Florida Supreme Court reprimand.
The defendants filed two motions to dismiss the complaint for failure to state
a claim. Both times, the district court granted the motions to dismiss without
prejudice and gave Mr. Klayman leave to amend his complaint.
On October 20, 2014, the defendants moved for summary judgment. They
argued, in part, that Voice Media Group did not publish any newspapers, that Mr.
Avidor did not write the September 28 article published by City Pages, that the
evidence of actual malice was insufficient to meet a clear and convincing evidence
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standard, and that the articles’ statements were true. Mr. Klayman filed an
opposition to the defendants’ motion for summary judgment.
Before the district court ruled on the motion for summary judgment, Mr.
Klayman filed a motion to perfect a prayer for punitive damages. The district court
denied the motion because it was filed 11 months after the deadline to amend
pleadings and because Mr. Klayman had not shown good cause to excuse the delay
as required by Rule 16(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Mr. Klayman
then filed a motion for reconsideration and in the alternative motion to certify as
controlling question of law to the Eleventh Circuit for interlocutory appeal, which
the district court denied.
In April of 2015, the district court granted the defendants’ motion for
summary judgment. In its order, the district court found that Voice Media Group
and Mr. Avidor did not publish any of the articles, that Mr. Klayman had failed to
establish a genuine issue of material fact as to the existence of actual malice, and
that the statements in one of the articles—the February 22 article in the Phoenix
New Times discussing the allegations of inappropriate touching—were true.
Afterward, Mr. Klayman filed a motion to disqualify, under 28 U.S.C. §§ 144 and
455(a), which the district court also denied.
II
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We review for abuse of discretion a district court’s decision as to whether to
disqualify. See Thomas v. Tenneco Packaging Co., 293 F.3d 1306, 1319–20 (11th
Cir. 2002).
Judges must recuse themselves when they are personally biased or
prejudiced against a party or in favor of an adverse party. See 28 U.S.C. § 144.
“To warrant recusal under § 144, the moving party must allege facts that would
convince a reasonable person that bias actually exists.” Christo v. Padgett, 223
F.3d 1324, 1333 (11th Cir. 2000). Judges must also recuse themselves when their
“impartiality might reasonably be questioned,” or when they have “a personal bias
or prejudice concerning a party.” 28 U.S.C. § 455(a) and (b)(1). A court must
conduct the inquiry using an objective standard. See Christo, 223 F.3d at 1333.
For bias to be sufficient to disqualify a judge, it generally must arise from
extrajudicial sources. See In re Walker, 532 F.3d 1304, 1310–11 (11th Cir. 2008).
If instead, the alleged bias arises from the judge’s remarks or opinions during the
course of judicial proceedings (and not from extrajudicial sources), the party
moving for disqualification must clear a much higher hurdle. The opinions formed
by a judge on the basis of facts introduced or events occurring during judicial
proceedings are not a basis for a bias or partiality challenge unless they “display a
deep-seated favoritism or antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.”
Liteky v. United States, 510 U.S. 540, 555 (1994). “Mere friction between the
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court and counsel . . . is not enough to demonstrate pervasive bias.” Id. (internal
citations omitted).
Mr. Klayman argues that the district court’s quoting of Alice in Wonderland,
admonitions for his behavior, and the threat of sanctions revealed the court’s bias.
Because Mr. Klayman has produced no evidence that the district court formed any
opinions from extrajudicial sources, he must demonstrate that the district court’s
remarks display such bias that a fair judgment is impossible.
Many sections of the district court’s order begin with quotes from or
allusions to Alice in Wonderland. For example, the court used the following
quotation as a subheading in the section discussing actual malice: “I’ve been
considering words that start with the letter M. Moron. Mutiny. Murder. Mmm—
malice.” D.E. 124 at 22. Mr. Klayman alleges that the quote implied that he was
the moron and thus demonstrated bias. But the use of a literary device to enliven a
summary judgment order does not evidence the kind of “deep seated favoritism or
antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible.” Liteky, 510 U.S. at 555.
With respect to the district court’s admonitions, Mr. Klayman primarily
takes exception to the district court’s following comments:
[T]he Court learned early on in this case that this
approach to litigation is the norm and not the exception
for Plaintiff.
While the Court would not ordinarily conclude with an
admonition . . . when Plaintiff receives unfavorable
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rulings, he often plunges into a tirade against whomever
he feels has wronged him . . . This is all to say that the
Court will review any motion for reconsideration of this
Order with a very sharp lens. Should Plaintiff file a
motion to reconsider, the Court forewarns Plaintiff that
any such motion must at least arguably meet the stringent
standard for reconsideration of an Order, at the risk of
facing sanctions from the Court.
D.E. 124 at 14 n.7 and 32. He forgets to mention, however, that the district court
also reproved the defendants for possible “sandbagging” and “negligence.” D.E.
124 at 13-14 n.6.
It is not uncommon for judges to quote literature or admonish parties for
their behavior. See, e.g., Mobile Logistics, LLC v. Old Dominion Freight Line,
Inc., Docket No. 4:12-cv-02297 (S.D. Tex. filed Nov. 7, 2012) (admonishing
attorneys, “1. Motions to the court must be filed with a caption. / 2. E-mails will
not be read and will be deleted. The court is not your ex-girlfriend’s Facebook
wall.”). Mr. Klayman contends that the comments were unnecessary, mocking,
and unbecoming of a federal judge. What Mr. Klayman fails to do is produce
evidence or convincingly show that these statements made a “fair judgment
impossible.” We therefore hold that the district court did not abuse its discretion in
denying Mr. Klayman’s motion to disqualify.
III
A
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In Florida, defamation is composed of the following elements: (1)
publication, (2) a defamatory statement, (3) falsity, and (4) actual damages. See
Jews For Jesus, Inc. v. Rapp, 997 So. 2d 1098, 1106 (Fla. 2008). Additionally, the
First Amendment requires that a plaintiff who is a public person (as stipulated by
the parties here) prove that the defendant acted with actual malice—knowledge or
reckless disregard as to the falsity of the statement. See Gertz v. Robert Welch,
Inc., 418 U.S. 323, 342 (1974). This constitutional requirement is examined under
a subjective standard, and a plaintiff must produce evidence that the defendants
“actually entertained serious doubts as to the veracity of the published account, or
[were] highly aware that the account was probably false.” Michel v. NYP
Holdings, Inc., 816 F.3d 686, 703 (11th Cir. 2016) (remanding the case to allow
the plaintiffs to plead facts sufficiently alleging actual malice).
The elements of defamation by implication are (1) a juxtaposition of a series
of facts so as to imply a defamatory connection between them, or (2) the creation
of a defamatory implication by omitting facts. See Rapp, 997 So. 2d at 1106.
Defamation of a public figure by implication also requires proof of actual malice
because it “is subsumed within the tort of defamation . . . [so] all of the protections
of defamation law . . . [are] extended to the tort of defamation by implication.” Id.
at 1108. See also Kendall v. Daily News Pub. Co., 716 F.3d 82, 90 (3d Cir. 2013)
(“We agree with the First, Sixth, Seventh, and Ninth Circuits: plaintiffs in
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defamation-by-implication cases must show something beyond knowledge of, or
recklessness in regard to, the falsity of the statement’s defamatory meaning.”)
(emphasis omitted).
B
We review de novo a district court’s grant of summary judgment and apply
the same legal standards governing the district court’s decision. See Sierra Club,
Inc. v. Leavitt, 488 F.3d 904, 911 (11th Cir. 2007). Summary judgment is
appropriate “if the movant shows that there is no genuine dispute as to any material
fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P.
56(a). A dispute is genuine “if the evidence is such that a reasonable jury could
return a verdict for the nonmoving party.” Ave. CLO Fund, Ltd. v. Bank of Am.,
N.A., 723 F.3d 1287, 1294 (11th Cir. 2013). Because a public figure must prove
actual malice by clear and convincing evidence, the appropriate question at
summary judgment is “whether the evidence in the record could support a
reasonable jury finding either that the plaintiff has shown actual malice by clear
and convincing evidence or that the plaintiff has not.” Anderson v. Liberty Lobby,
Inc., 477 U.S. 242, 256–57 (1986).
C
With respect to the City Pages article—discussing the child custody
proceedings—Mr. Klayman asserts that the article gives the false impression that
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he committed and was convicted of child sexual abuse. He specifically points to
the sentence, “Turns out, gays aren’t the only ones capable of disturbing criminal
sexual behavior — apparently even conservative straight guys tight with Bradlee
Dean turn out to be total creeps.” Additionally, Mr. Klayman claims that the
article omitted the fact that no criminal trial took place and that the Cleveland
Department of Children Families, the Cuyahoga County Sheriff, and the District
Attorney “cleared” him of sexual misconduct allegations. Mr. Rupar defends the
use of the word “criminal,” claiming that he understood the conduct described by
the Ohio Court of Appeals to be “criminal” conduct. Moreover, because the Ohio
Court of Appeals upheld the trial court’s ruling, he believed the statement was true.
Mr. Klayman argues that the June 18 Phoenix New Times article—which
described the pending Arizona Bar investigation and the prior Florida Bar
grievance—is defamatory. The article stated, “Klayman’s been in trouble with a
Bar association before, as he was publicly reprimanded by the Florida Bar in 2011
for taking money from a client, and never doing any work.” According to Mr.
Klayman, this excerpt represents and gives the false impression that he was
reprimanded for taking client money and never doing any work, but he was
actually reprimanded for failing to pay Ms. Humm completely as required by the
settlement. Mr. Hendley responds that he used the public filings related to the
Florida Bar disciplinary proceedings and the Miami New Times story as the basis
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for his article and that he believed the statements were true at the time of
publication.
Mr. Klayman asserts that he presented circumstantial evidence to meet the
clear and convincing standard and allow a reasonable jury to find actual malice.
First, he says the defendants’ lack of editorial or verification processes and the
authors’ failure to contact him for comment before publication is evidence of ill
will and a reckless disregard for the truth. Second, he argues that Mr. Hendley’s
prior criminal convictions reveal a man “who had nothing to lose to take risks and
defame others for a living,” and by hiring him, City Pages demonstrated that it was
“not interested in the truth.” Mr. Klayman argues that this compounds the
circumstantial evidence of actual malice. The final piece of evidence, according to
Mr. Klayman, is the defendants’ refusal to correct the statements after receiving his
letter demanding correction.
Mr. Klayman’s characterizations of the defendants are immaterial as to
whether they actually had doubts about the veracity of the statements or alleged
implications. Furthermore, on this record, the defendants’ failure to investigate
and poor journalistic standards are insufficient to establish actual malice. See
Michel, 816 F.3d at 703 (explaining that “[a]ctual malice requires more than a
departure from reasonable journalistic standards” and that “a failure to investigate,
standing on its own, does not indicate the presence of actual malice”). To show
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actual malice, a plaintiff must produce evidence “showing that the defendant
purposely avoided further investigation with the intent to avoid the truth.” Id. Mr.
Klayman has not produced any such evidence, and a mere refusal to correct a
publication falls short. See New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254, 286
(1964).
Evidence that an article contains information that readers can use to verify
its content tends to undermine claims of actual malice. “Where a publisher gives
readers sufficient information to weigh for themselves the likelihood of an article’s
veracity, it reduces the risk that readers will reach unfair (or simply incorrect)
conclusions, even if the publisher itself has.” Michel, 816 F.3d at 703. In this
case, the September 28 article quotes the Ohio Court of Appeals’ opinion: “The
magistrate stated that he could draw an adverse inference from Klayman’s decision
not to testify to these matters because it was a civil proceeding, not criminal.”
D.E. 52-1 at 2 (emphasis added). Likewise, the June 18 article links to the Miami
New Times story that (1) discussed the Florida Bar disciplinary proceedings and
(2) provided a link to the Florida Bar’s public documents. These facts undercut
Mr. Klayman’s case; if the defendants actually had been highly aware of the
publications’ falsity, it is unlikely they would have included source information
that refuted any defamatory claims or implications.
D
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The district court entered summary judgment in favor of Voice Media Group
and Mr. Avidor on every pertinent count, holding that neither published any
articles. As to Count II, which was based on the February 22 article, Mr. Klayman
argued that (1) the statements made by Mr. Hendley in the article were defamatory
and (2) Mr. Hendley was also liable for statements he “republished” by linking to
the September 28 article in his February 22 article. The district court entered
summary judgment in favor of the defendants after finding that (1) the statements
at issue were not false, a required element of defamation, see Rapp, 997 So. 2d at
1106, and (2) Mr. Hendley was not liable for statements in the September 28
article because linking to content that is already publicly available on the internet
does not constitute republication. Mr. Klayman does not challenge these rulings
on appeal and also fails to contest the district court’s grant of summary judgment
on Count V, his corresponding defamation by implication claim based on the
February 22 article. Consequently, we will not consider them, and we affirm these
rulings by the district court. See Norelus v. Denny’s, Inc., 628 F.3d 1270, 1296–97
(11th Cir. 2010) (holding that parties waive all legal claims and arguments not
briefed before the court on appeal). See also Sapuppo v. Allstate Floridian Ins.
Co., 739 F.3d 678, 681 (11th Cir. 2014) (“A party fails to adequately brief a claim
when he does not plainly and prominently raise it, for instance by devoting a
discrete section of his argument to those claims.”) (internal citation omitted).
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Mr. Klayman argues that a blog post authored by Mr. Avidor—later linked
to in Mr. Rupar’s September 28 article that discussed the child custody case—
provides sufficient evidence of defamation by implication to survive summary
judgment. But Mr. Klayman did not raise this argument with the district court. In
his opposition to the motion for summary judgment, Mr. Klayman mentioned the
blog post as circumstantial evidence of actual malice. Only on appeal does he
argue a claim for defamation by implication based on the blog post. We therefore
decline to consider it. See Norelus, 628 F.3d at 1296 (stating that issues not raised
by a party in the district court are not considered on appeal).
Considering all the evidence, and drawing all reasonable inferences in favor
of Mr. Klayman, we hold that a reasonable jury could not find the existence of
actual malice on the part of the defendants by clear and convincing evidence. The
district court did not err in granting summary judgment in favor of the defendants.
As a result, Mr. Klayman’s claim that the district court erred in denying his motion
to perfect a prayer for punitive damages is rendered moot.
IV
For the foregoing reasons, we affirm the district court’s grant of summary
judgment on all counts, the denial of Mr. Klayman’s motion to disqualify, and the
denial of his motion to perfect a prayer for punitive damages.
AFFIRMED.
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