Myers v. Lashley

In Myers v. Lashley, 2002 OK 14, 44 P.3d 553, a case that was also decided at the summary judgment stage, the Court stated that once the statutory privilege at issue has been invoked, "the onus shifts" to the plaintiff "to overcome its effect" by "tendering acceptable evidentiary materials which would show the reporter's conduct in contest was outside the range of her statutory protection . . . ." "Probative materials" showing some "intentional wrongdoing" must be present in the record to overcome the statutory immunity. Id. The Myers Court explained that evidence even of gross negligence, characterized as reckless indifference to the consequences, "falls short of an intentional wrong's equivalent." Id. The Court stated: While gross negligence may support a punitive damages assessment, it is insufficient . . . to provide a predicate for an inference of bad faith. Even if plaintiffs were relying on gross negligence . . . on the part of the reporter of the child abuse . . . they could not escalate their claim against her to a willful tort from which bad faith could be inferred. Id. Rather, the Myers Court stated that "the element of scienter - that of guilty knowledge - is an indispensable ingredient in the pattern of proof required to show lack of good faith." The Court noted that bad faith, "or mala fides . . . consists in guilty knowledge, or willful ignorance, showing a vicious or evil mind." Id. n.46 .