Haas v. Painter

Plaintiff, a former Multnomah County District Attorney and the 1980 Democratic candidate for Attorney General, brought this action to recover damages to his reputation caused by an editorial published by defendants, which he contends was defamatory. He appeals from a judgment dismissing his complaint after defendants’ motion for summary judgment 1 was granted on the ground that the editorial was not “capable of being defamatory as statements of fact.”

The editorial was written by defendant Painter and published on the editorial page of The Oregonian on September 18, 1980, seven weeks before…