Lewis v. Oliver

OPINION

GRANT, Presiding Judge.

In this appeal we hold that a complaint made to superiors of a safety inspector of the *332Federal Aviation Administration (“FAA”) is entitled to a qualified, but not an absolute privilege. We also hold that an FAA safety inspector is a public official who must establish a defendant’s actual malice in making defamatory statements concerning the performance of the inspector’s job. Because the plaintiff presented evidence sufficient to create a jury question on whether the defendant acted with actual malice, we reverse the grant of summary judgment for the defendant…