Costello v. Ocean County Observer

The opinion of the Court was delivered by

GARIBALDI, J.

This case involves a newspaper article describing allegations contained in an unfiled complaint that a police lieutenant fondled a woman while she was handcuffed during a strip-search. We address whether the fair-report privilege applies and whether the lieutenant is a public figure subject to the actual-malice burden of proof.

I

In October 1990 Joseph Fisher, a supervising editor at the Ocean County Observer, assigned reporter Whit Andrews to inves*601tigate reports of possible misconduct by certain Seaside Heights police officers. Andrews, a…