Zutz v. Nelson

ANDERSON, PAUL H., J.,

(dissenting).

I respectfully dissent. The majority relies on two of our older cases — one from 1909 and the other from 1967 — in declining to extend absolute legislative privilege to statements made by watershed district board members in their official capacities. Jones v. Monico, 276 Minn. 371, 150 N.W.2d 213 (1967); Burch v. Bernard, 107 Minn. 210, 120 N.W. 33 (1909). Since we decided those cases, a contrary trend has emerged in several other jurisdictions, extending absolute privilege beyond a state’s highest legislative bodies. I find the authority supporting the…