Martin v. State Journal-Register

PRESIDING JUSTICE STEIGMANN

delivered the opinion of the court:

In July 1986, plaintiff, Michael E. Martin (an. officer with the Illinois Department of Conservation (DOC)), sued defendants, the State Journal-Register (a Springfield newspaper) and Pam Portado Gibson (a free-lance writer for the State Journal-Register), for libel. Plaintiff’s suit arose out of an article Gibson wrote that accused Martin of abusing his position as a conservation officer. In June 1992, defendants moved for summary judgment under section 2 — 1005 of the Code of Civil Procedure (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 110,…