Wiemer v. Rankin

JOHNSON, Justice.

This is a defamation action by Irvin Wiemer against Ronald Rankin and Rankin’s wife. The action is based on a newspaper article published by Rankin indicating that Irvin had lied when he told the police that his wife, Debbie, committed suicide. The trial court granted summary *568judgment dismissing the complaint. The issues presented are: (1) whether the trial court properly placed the burden on Irvin to prove that Rankin’s statements about Debbie’s death were false, (2) whether there was a genuine issue as to the falsity of Rankin’s statements and (3) whether Rankin had a…