SALONEN v. JACKSON NATIONAL LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY (2020)

MEMORANDUM **

Brian Salonen appeals the district court’s summary judgment in favor of Jackson National Life Insurance Co. The district court ruled that the Jackson’s letters to Salonen’s clients, mistakenly stating that Salonen was no longer available to service their products, did not constitute libel per se. We affirm.

Under Montana state law, a statement constitutes libel per se if it is “of such a nature that the court can presume as a matter of law that [it] will tend to disgrace and degrade [an individual] or cause him to be shunned and avoided.” Wainman v. Bowler, 176 Mont. 91, 576 P.2d 268, 271 (1978). Libel “include[s] whatever tends to ․ blacken [an individual’s] reputation, or imputes fraud, dishonesty or other moral turpitude, or reflects shame, or tends to put him without the pale of social intercourse.” Manley v. Harer, 73 Mont. 253, 235 P. 757, 759 (1925). A statement is not libel per se if it merely tends to annoy or embarrass an individual. Wainman, 576 P.2d at 271.

Salonen argues that the letters constitute libel per se because they caused his clients and other members of the community to believe he was terminated for misconduct, and therefore damaged him in his occupation. The letters, however, are capable of non-libelous meanings, including that Salonen and Jackson mutually agreed to end their business relationship. The letters thus did not constitute libel per se. See id. at 271 (“The language used must be susceptible of but one meaning, and that an opprobrious one.”). The district court therefore correctly granted summary judgment to Jackson.

AFFIRMED.