California Court of Appeal

In a hospital's suit against a union for defamation, trade libel, and intentional interference with prospective economic relations, arising from the union's secondary picketing of the hospital for using the services of a non-unionized laundry company, a $17 million judgment in favor of the hospital is reversed where: 1) the trial court committed harmful error by refusing to instruct the jury that the hospitals had the burden of providing by clear and convincing evidence that the union made the defamatory publication with actual malice; 2) binding federal law holds that this actual malice burden of proof applies to plaintiffs who seek to state remedies for defamatory labor dispute publications, and that such publications include those directed at secondary targets; and 3) the postcard publication in this case was such a labor dispute communication.

Appellate Information

• Decided 07/21/2010
• Published 07/21/2010

Judges

• SCOTLAND

Court

• California Court of Appeal

Counsel

• For Appellant:
  
• Michael Rubin, Karl Olson