Howe v. Detroit Free Press, Inc

Plaintiff appeals as of right the trial court’s order of dismissal and entry of judgment in favor of defendant. We affirm.

This defamation action is based upon a newspaper article originally published in the San Jose (California) Mercury News on July 20, 1986, regarding major league baseball pitcher Steve Howe, son of plaintiff Virgil Howe, and his struggles with cocaine and its effect on his baseball career. In the article, reporter Mike Antonucci wrote that Steve Howe “was the eldest of five children in a family that was a prisoner of his father’s drinking problems.” The article also…