Cheatum v. Wehle

In this action for slander the plaintiff moves to strike the five separate defenses contained in the defendant’s answer on the ground that they are legally insufficient. The defendant in turn challenges the legal sufficiency of the amended complaint. (Rules Civ. Prac., rule 109, subd. 6.)

The first separate defense based on the qualified privilege of fair comment on a matter of public interest and concern is sufficient in law. In order to acquire defeasible immunity an utterance purporting to be fair comment on a subject of public interest must be (1) comment, (2) based on facts truly stated…