Section 16 First Amendment Defenses to Emotional Distress Claims

• Library: Damages 2012

The Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment can serve as a defense to claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress. See, e.g., Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46, 50–51 (1988); Snyder v. Phelps, 131 S. Ct. 1207 (2011).

In Hustler Magazine,485 U.S. 46, the Supreme Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for intentional infliction of emotional distress from publication of a caricature without a false statement of fact made with actual malice.

In that case, Hustler Magazine published a parody of Jerry Falwell, portraying him and his mother as drunk and immoral. When the parody was published, the status of Jerry Falwell as a public figure was not disputed. Falwell sued Hustler Magazine and Larry Flynt for invasion of privacy, libel, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The trial court directed a verdict for Hustler Magazine and Larry Flynt on the invasion of privacy claim.The jury found for the defendants on the libel claim, finding that the parody...