Public Official Can Be Held Liable for Defamatory Speech

In Manufactured Home Communities, Inc. v. County of San Diego, a divided 3-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit ruled that a county supervisor who made hostile public comments about a mobilehome park owner could be held liable if the comments amounted to false statements of fact.  The appellate court reversed a district court decision granting an anti-SLAPP motion to strike the lawsuit.   The majority ruled that a jury could find some of the supervisor's statements to be false assertions of fact, rather than hyperbole or opinions.

The dissenting judge argued that the mobilehome park owner had failed to establish that any of the supervisor's statements were false; and that an anti-SLAPP motion was therefore appropriate.