Medico v. Time, Inc.

Time (defendant) published an article on former Congressman Daniel Flood's suspected mafia ties, describing FBI reports stating that Flood gave business to Philip Medico (plaintiff) and traveled on Medico's company jet, and that a mob boss described Medico as a family capo. The district court granted Time summary judgment not on truth but on the ground that the article fairly and accurately summarized the underlying FBI reports and was protected by the common-law fair report privilege, and Medico appealed, arguing preliminary FBI conclusions are not sufficiently official to trigger the privilege.