Supreme Court of California

The discovery rule may not be employed to delay the accrual of a cause of action for defamation beyond the point at which the defamation is no longer secret but was made public in a book. The statute of limitations ran from the date the book was first generally distributed to the public, regardless of the date on which plaintiff actually learned of the book's contents.

Appellate Information

• Decided 12/22/2003
• Published 12/22/2003

Judges

•  GEORGE, C.J.

Court

• Supreme Court of California

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
•  Hill & Hill, Monique Shana Hill, Playa Del Rey, and Gregory Charles Hill, Ventura, for Plaintiff and Appellant., Law Office of Robert Cooper and Robert Cooper for Paul Ingerson as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.


• For Appellees:
  
• Franscell, Strickland, Roberts & Lawrence, David D. Lawrence, Orange, Cindy S. Lee, Pasadena, and Jin S. Choi, Atlanta, GA, for Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles.,  Davis Wright Tremaine, Kelli L. Sager, Alonzo Wickers IV, Rochelle L. Wilcox, Los Angeles, and Thomas R. Burke, San Francisco, for California Newspaper Publishers Association, Los Angeles Times Communications, LLC, The Copley Press, Inc., ABC, Inc., Magazine Publishers of America, Inc., News America, Inc., Cable News Network, National Broadcasting Company, Inc., and Time Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Thomas W. Newton, Sacramento, for California Newspaper Publishers Association as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Karlene W. Goller, Los Angeles, for Los Angeles Times Communications, LLC, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Harold L. Fuson, Jr., and Judith Fanshaw, La Jolla, for The Copley Press, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Jean Zoeller, Burbank, for ABC, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Squadron, Ellenoof, Plesent & Sheinfeld and Slade R. Metcalf, New York, NY, for Magazine Publishers of America, Inc., as Amici Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Jan F. Constantine, New York, NY, for News America, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., David Vigilante, for Cable News Network as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Andrea Hartman, Burbank, for National Broadcasting, Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., Paul Gardephe, New York, NY, for Time Inc., as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents Peter Bozanich and County of Los Angeles., No appearance for Defendant and Respondent Brian Patrick Clarke.