Reesman v. Highfill

Plaintiff appeals, assigning error to the entry of summary judgment against his claims for defamation and “false light” invasion of privacy. He asserts, particularly, that the trial court erred in concluding that defendants’ 1 statements were not capable of defamatory meaning; that plaintiff was a public figure; and that there was no triable issue of fact as to whether defendants acted with actual malice. We generally agree with plaintiff, except that we conclude that he failed to adduce legally sufficient evidence of actual malice with respect to certain aspects of his false light claim.…