Tampa Tribune Staff Writer

July 23, 1988

      TAMPA - Harbor pilot David Raybren, his voice choked with emotion, testified Friday that he believed he was telling the truth three years ago when he called 16 former colleagues drunks and racketeers.

       Six jurors weren't convinced, and when they returned with a $360,000 verdict against him - $22,500 per man - it was more than Raybren could handle. He wrapped his arm around his daughter and quickly left the courtroom, but collapsed seconds later in an adjacent hallway.

      "You can't tell me the man didn't think he was telling the truth," his daughter, Kelly sobbed as lawyers and court observers scrambled to help. The 44-year-old pilot regained consciousness shortly after paramedics arrived, and his family helped him walk out of the courthouse.

      A previous jury found that Raybren had defamed the pilots in a 1985 interview with a Bradenton Herald reporter. An article published in the newspaper quoted Raybren as saying his former colleagues in the Tampa Bay Pilots Association were involved in "corruption, racketeering, slander and the big power play on the waterfront."

      At that time, Raybren had started his own, competing pilots' organization. He accused the pilots of "total drunkenness and inability to do their jobs."

      The 2nd District Court of Appeals upheld the first jury's finding of fault and award of compensatory damages of $1 to each pilot. But it threw out an award of $10,000 in punitive damages to 15 of the pilots, ruling that in order to assess such damages in a defamation case, a jury first must make a finding that the statements were made maliciously. The judge at the original trial did not instruct jury members that the evidence had to meet that standard.

      The appellate court sent the case back to Hillsborough Circuit Court for another jury to determine how much, if any, Raybren should pay as punishment for his statements.

      Lawyer, Steven Yerrid, representing the 16 members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association, argued Friday that Raybren's comments met that standard and that he should pay each pilot $25,000, or a total of $400,000.

      Yerrid noted Raybren persists in defending the truthfulness of his statements, despite the first jury's verdict against him.

      Yerrid stood between the jury box and spectator benches Friday while cross-examining Raybren. He called out pilots' names and pointed toward then, asking Raybren if he still believed they were drunks or racketeers. Raybren answered that yes, he did.

      "The only thing that's going to stop those rumors that have been found to be false is your verdict," Yerrid told the jury in his closing argument. "That message this man will understand, because that message will be in dollars."

      Raybren's lawyer, Michael Addison, said the jury should not punish his client for continuing to believe his statements were accurate.

      That is simply proof that he did not make the comments with a total disregard to their truthfulness.

      "Capt. Raybren felt he was doing what was necessary, what was required, and he was speaking the truth," Addison said.

      Raybren testified that he and his wife were harassed before he left the Tampa Bay Pilots Association because he had gone to superiors with increasing complaints about the other pilots' behavior and job performance.

      Raybren spoke repeatedly of truth and honor, themes voiced often during the week-long trial. And the seamen weren't the only ones with reputations on the line. The integrity and time-honored reputation of the 116-year-old Tampa Bay Pilots' Association also was at stake, Yerrid said.

      The "really tragic thing," Yerrid told the jury, is that no matter what the verdict, no matter what the punishment, the pilots will always have a stigma attached to their names because of the adverse publicity and rumors.

05/10/80