Lundquist v. Reusser

Opinion

GEORGE, J.

Under the “common-interest privilege,” codified in California in Civil Code section 47, subdivision (c) (hereafter section 47(c)), 1 a defendant who makes a statement to others on a matter of common interest is immunized from liability for defamation so long as the statement is made “without malice.” In this case we must determine whether, when it is established that the statement in question was made on an occasion that falls within the parameters of the common-interest privilege, it is the plaintiff who bears the burden of proving that the statement was made with malice, or…