KATHERINE SELEY-RADTKE v. RAMACHANDRA S. HOSMANE
Court of Appeals, Watts, Nov. 22, 2016,
Defamation – In a purely private defamation action, the plaintiff must overcome a common-law conditional privilege by a preponderance of the evidence

(Dissent – McDonald with Getty – standard should be clear and convincing in light of public interest involved)

“A defamatory statement is one which tends to expose a person to public scorn, hatred, contempt[,] or ridicule, thereby discouraging others in the community from having a good opinion of, or associating with, that person”

A defamation case differs with regard to whether the plaintiff is a public vs. a private individual.

In cases where a public figure alleges defamation, they must overcome a first-amendment conditional privilege.

In purely private defamation cases, the standard is preponderance of the evidence.

In defamation case, the burden of proving the falsity of the statement falls on the plaintiff.

If the defendant asserts a privilege, the plaintiff must also overcome that privilege.
Absolute privileges: provides complete immunity and applies, subject to limitations, principally to (1) judicial proceedings; (2) legislative proceedings; (3) in some cases to executive publications; (4) publications consented to; (5) publications between spouses; (6) publications required by law.
Conditional privileges:
Common-law privileges: (1) The public interest privilege, to publish materials to public officials on matters within their public responsibility; (2) the privilege to publish to
someone who shares a common interest, or, relatedly, to publish in defense of oneself or in the interest of others; (3) the fair comment privilege; and (4) the privilege to make a fair and accurate report of public proceedings.
– First Amendment conditional privilege – statements pertaining to public officials and public figures

Conditional privileges are overcome only by actual malice- actual knowledge of falsity (or reckless disregard?) coupled with intent to deceive others by statement

First-Amendment Privilege must be overcome by “clear and convincing evidence of knowledge of a statement’s falsity or reckless disregard of whether the statement was false or not.”

Damages for defamation are “actual damages” and not “presumed or punitive damages” unless the higher malice standard is met.