Hoppe v. Hearst Corp.

—Harley and Teresa Hoppe (Hoppe) appeal from an order of summary judgment dismissing defamation and other tort claims made in response to a column that appeared in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I). We affirm.

In the spring of 1983, Harley Hoppe, then King County Assessor, was embroiled in controversy over having hired private detectives to trail a deputy assessor who had publicly charged Hoppe's office with wrongful assessment practices. At the time, it was revealed that Hoppe had secretly monitored county employees on other occasions. Local newspapers published prominent articles about…