No Defamation From Comments on Atlanta Reality TV Show

Judge McBurney wrote that Wright's defamation claims against Pate and the show producers were without merit because Wright failed to prove that Pate's statements were false, that they hurt his reputation and that they were negligently aired. The judge added that Wright is a public figure and couldn't prove Pate and the defendants acted with actual malice, the high standard that applies in defamation cases brought by public figures.

Wright plans to appeal, said one of his attorneys, Conti Moore. Neither Moore, who is a solo practitioner in Orlando, FL, nor her co-counsel Alcide Honore, a partner at Hooper & Honore in Atlanta, would comment on McBurney's findings.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers are seeking attorney fees. Cynthia Counts of Counts Law Group represented Pate. The other defendants included Viacom International, which was represented by S. Derek Bauer and Christopher Cottrell of McKenna, Long & Aldridge; and Monami Entertainment and NFGTV (now known as Eastern TV), which were represented by Christy Hull Eikhoff and Jonathan Parente of Alston & Bird. Viacom, in partnership with Monami and NFGTV, produced Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.

“We believe that if ever there was a frivolous lawsuit, this was it,” Counts said. “The plaintiff's admissions [in his depositions and complaint] were so powerful that I genuinely thought his attorneys would dismiss the suit. Rather, the plaintiff continued to use the court and social media in an effort to generate publicity and new business opportunities for himself.”

In his order, Judge McBurney pointed out that while Wright's suit was pending, he pitched an idea for his own reality show in which the litigation would be part of the story line. McBurney also said Wright and his lawyers frustrated the court because they were “unwilling for many months to identify with the requisite specificity ' indeed, for some time, without any specificity ' the allegedly defamatory statements.”

“That was the first skirmish,” said Viacom attorney Bauer. “The plaintiff, in his initial complaint and discovery responses, just quoted huge portions and minutes of programming. He wouldn't tell us what the actual words were that he alleged to be defamatory.”

According to Judge McBurney's order, Wright filed an amended complaint that the court interpreted as outlining three essential claims of slanderous statements about him: that he threatened Pate's child, mismanaged Pate's career and beat her.

Case Background

In 2008, Wright signed Pate to his Hitz Committee label. Shortly afterward, the two struck up a romantic relationship. In July 2009, they were involved in an altercation in a Memphis hotel room, which led to their breakup, though the pair continued to work together until 2010.

In 2012, Pate appeared on the first season of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. In several episodes she referred to her struggles to make a name for herself as a recording artist and blamed an unnamed record executive. During the first episode, Judge McBurney noted in his order, Pate told the audience that she was romantically involved with her former record executive until “one day he flipped and he beat my ass.” Pate also stated the former executive “bought chains, rings, everything out of my recording budget. Over $2 million with nothing to show for it. No album, no music, no anything.”

While the show never identified Wright, he identified himself on Twitter and other social media sites as the subject of Pate's comments. He also gave multiple radio interviews during which he identified himself as the unnamed record executive, according to case filings.

No Proof Comments Were Broadcast

In his order, Judge McBurney found that Wright could not sufficiently prove that Pate's comments accusing Wright of threatening to kill her son were ever broadcast on the show. Pate's words describing the alleged threat were censored by the show with a bleep, Judge McBurney noted.

As for Pate's comments on the show regarding the financial and business mismanagement of her career, Judge McBurney found that they were exaggerated but also protected against defamation liability. Citing the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal, 497 U.S. 1, Judge McBurney said that “courts have found that statements made as part of an emotional, heated or adversarial debate often negate the impression that the speaker/ publisher was asserting an objective fact.”

Judge McBurney then went a step further, stating that even if Wright had proved that Pate intended her comments to be assertions of fact, Wright could not prove that her statements were “demonstrably false.” The court order outlined undisputed facts in the case that showed Wright bought himself and others jewelry out of the record label budget, told Pate that the record company's total investment in her was $2 million and admitted that he would withdraw money from one artist's account and apply it toward another artist.

The judge also found Pate's statements on the show that Wright beat her were not false. Wright conceded in depositions that during the hotel room altercation in 2009 he “restrained Pate on the floor; grabbed her arms; and covered her mouth with his hands, a towel, or both until she stopped screaming.” Pate said in her affidavit and in her deposition that she feared she would black out and die, the court order also noted.

According to the court order, defendants Viacom, Monami Entertainment and NFGTV could have ignored Wright's denials of Pate's statements and still be protected from his defamation claims.

Kathleen Baydala Joyner is a Reporter with the Daily Report, the Alanta-based ALM sibling of this newsletter.

An Atlanta R&B singer who said on a reality TV show that the CEO of her former record label mismanaged her career and beat her years ago in a hotel room has prevailed in a defamation lawsuit the CEO brought in Fulton County Superior Court. Judge Robert McBurney granted summary judgment to Kimberly Michelle Pate, better known in the music industry as K. Michelle, and the reality show's production companies. Wright v. Pate, 2012CV225263.

Pate was a cast member on a VH1 show called Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, which featured recording artists trying to reach fame. During the first season of the show, Pate discussed her soured personal and professional relationship with Mickey Wright Jr., who goes by the trade name MeMpHiTz and was CEO of the Hitz Committee record label.

No Proof Statements Were False

Judge McBurney wrote that Wright's defamation claims against Pate and the show producers were without merit because Wright failed to prove that Pate's statements were false, that they hurt his reputation and that they were negligently aired. The judge added that Wright is a public figure and couldn't prove Pate and the defendants acted with actual malice, the high standard that applies in defamation cases brought by public figures.

Wright plans to appeal, said one of his attorneys, Conti Moore. Neither Moore, who is a solo practitioner in Orlando, FL, nor her co-counsel Alcide Honore, a partner at Hooper & Honore in Atlanta, would comment on McBurney's findings.

Meanwhile, defense lawyers are seeking attorney fees. Cynthia Counts of Counts Law Group represented Pate. The other defendants included Viacom International, which was represented by S. Derek Bauer and Christopher Cottrell of McKenna, Long & Aldridge; and Monami Entertainment and NFGTV (now known as Eastern TV), which were represented by Christy Hull Eikhoff and Jonathan Parente of Alston & Bird. Viacom, in partnership with Monami and NFGTV, produced Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.

“We believe that if ever there was a frivolous lawsuit, this was it,” Counts said. “The plaintiff's admissions [in his depositions and complaint] were so powerful that I genuinely thought his attorneys would dismiss the suit. Rather, the plaintiff continued to use the court and social media in an effort to generate publicity and new business opportunities for himself.”

In his order, Judge McBurney pointed out that while Wright's suit was pending, he pitched an idea for his own reality show in which the litigation would be part of the story line. McBurney also said Wright and his lawyers frustrated the court because they were “unwilling for many months to identify with the requisite specificity ' indeed, for some time, without any specificity ' the allegedly defamatory statements.”

“That was the first skirmish,” said Viacom attorney Bauer. “The plaintiff, in his initial complaint and discovery responses, just quoted huge portions and minutes of programming. He wouldn't tell us what the actual words were that he alleged to be defamatory.”

According to Judge McBurney's order, Wright filed an amended complaint that the court interpreted as outlining three essential claims of slanderous statements about him: that he threatened Pate's child, mismanaged Pate's career and beat her.

Case Background

In 2008, Wright signed Pate to his Hitz Committee label. Shortly afterward, the two struck up a romantic relationship. In July 2009, they were involved in an altercation in a Memphis hotel room, which led to their breakup, though the pair continued to work together until 2010.

In 2012, Pate appeared on the first season of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta. In several episodes she referred to her struggles to make a name for herself as a recording artist and blamed an unnamed record executive. During the first episode, Judge McBurney noted in his order, Pate told the audience that she was romantically involved with her former record executive until “one day he flipped and he beat my ass.” Pate also stated the former executive “bought chains, rings, everything out of my recording budget. Over $2 million with nothing to show for it. No album, no music, no anything.”

While the show never identified Wright, he identified himself on Twitter and other social media sites as the subject of Pate's comments. He also gave multiple radio interviews during which he identified himself as the unnamed record executive, according to case filings.

No Proof Comments Were Broadcast

In his order, Judge McBurney found that Wright could not sufficiently prove that Pate's comments accusing Wright of threatening to kill her son were ever broadcast on the show. Pate's words describing the alleged threat were censored by the show with a bleep, Judge McBurney noted.

As for Pate's comments on the show regarding the financial and business mismanagement of her career, Judge McBurney found that they were exaggerated but also protected against defamation liability. Citing the 1990 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Milkovich v. Lorain Journal, 497 U.S. 1, Judge McBurney said that “courts have found that statements made as part of an emotional, heated or adversarial debate often negate the impression that the speaker/ publisher was asserting an objective fact.”

Judge McBurney then went a step further, stating that even if Wright had proved that Pate intended her comments to be assertions of fact, Wright could not prove that her statements were “demonstrably false.” The court order outlined undisputed facts in the case that showed Wright bought himself and others jewelry out of the record label budget, told Pate that the record company's total investment in her was $2 million and admitted that he would withdraw money from one artist's account and apply it toward another artist.

The judge also found Pate's statements on the show that Wright beat her were not false. Wright conceded in depositions that during the hotel room altercation in 2009 he “restrained Pate on the floor; grabbed her arms; and covered her mouth with his hands, a towel, or both until she stopped screaming.” Pate said in her affidavit and in her deposition that she feared she would black out and die, the court order also noted.

According to the court order, defendants Viacom, Monami Entertainment and NFGTV could have ignored Wright's denials of Pate's statements and still be protected from his defamation claims.

Kathleen Baydala Joyner is a Reporter with the Daily Report, the Alanta-based ALM sibling of this newsletter.