Kanaga v. Gannett Co., Inc.

VEASEY, Chief Justice:

In this appeal we conclude that one who publishes defamatory material about a non-public figure does not necessarily enjoy First Amendment protected speech status as a matter of law when that material is expressed in terms of an opinion. Here, a physician claims to have been libeled by a patient-defendant who presented defamatory material to the media-defendants who published the material. The defendants claim that the material was opinion and, as such, is protected speech. We hold that summary judgment was improperly granted in favor of defendants where the defamatory…