State Supreme Court rules against congressman's mother in dog-kennel defamation case

The Missouri Supreme Court ruled the operator of a dog kennel cannot sue advocacy groups after they said she ran one of the "worst puppy mills" in the state.

The court Tuesday unanimously upheld a Dent County circuit court decision that dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Smith of Salem, Missouri.

Smith is the mother of 8th District U.S. Rep. Jason Smith.

In the decision written by Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge, the Supreme Court dismissed Mary Ann Smith's defamation claims because her petition did not allege any actionable statements.

"Because these statements were subjective assessments not provable as false and did not imply any objective facts provable as false, these statements are not actionable as defamation as a matter of law," the chief justice wrote.

Smith had alleged statements by the advocacy groups were made with "reckless disregard for the truth."

But the Missouri Supreme Court said in its ruling statements the kennel was a "puppy mill" and it had "atrocious, unconscionable, major and flagrant violations" do not imply objective facts that are provable as false, and instead are "imprecisely used as 'lusty, imaginative expression(s) of contempt' that cannot reasonably be interpreted as stating actual facts."

Breckenridge wrote the circuit court "did not err" in dismissing Smith's defamation claims.

Smith sued the Humane Society of the United States and Missourians for the Protection of Dogs over their report in 2010 which claimed Smith's kennel was one of "Missouri's dirty dozen" puppy mills.

The report was published in advance of a November 2010 election on a "Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act" ballot initiative, court documents show.

Smith alleged the statements "placed her in a false light by misrepresenting the activities and conduct of both her and her kennel and by associating her kennel with those that had more severe animal welfare violations," Breckenridge wrote in the 27-page ruling.

According to the advocacy groups' report, cited in the court's decision, "Smith's kennel "has a history of repeat USDA (U.S. Department of Agriculture) violations stretching back more than a decade, including citations for unsanitary conditions; dogs exposed to below-freezing temperatures or excessive heat without adequate shelter from the weather; dogs without enough cage space to turn and move around freely; pest and rodent infestations; injured and bleeding dogs, dogs with loose, bloody stools who had not been treated by a vet, and much more."

In the decision, Breckenridge wrote Smith "does not assert any of the state or federal violations attributed to her are false."

The Missouri Supreme Court said "whether Ms. Smith's kennel was one of the 'Dirty Dozen' or one of 'the worst licensed kennels in the state' is a "subjective assessment based on the 'number' and the 'severity' of her kennel's state and federal violations, which is not provable as false, and therefore, as a matter of law does not represent a basis for an actionable defamation claim."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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