Piccone v. Bartels, No. 14-1989 (1st Cir. 2015)
Annotate this CasePlaintiffs, a New York resident and her boyfriend, were both employed by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Following an encounter between Plaintiffs and Defendant, a local police chief, Defendant called DHS to complain about Plaintiffs’ behavior during the incident. As a result of the telephone call, DHS launched investigations into Plaintiffs’ conduct. Ultimately, DHS took no action against either plaintiff. Plaintiffs subsequently filed suit in district court, alleging, among other claims, slander and libel, malicious falsehood, and interference with advantageous business relations (IABR). The district court dismissed all of Plaintiffs’ claims butter the slander and IABR claims. The court then granted summary judgment to Defendant on the two remaining counts. The First Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment to Defendant, holding that the statements concerning Plaintiffs’ conduct during the encounter constituted non-actionable opinions where Defendant fully disclosed the non-defamatory facts undergirding his opinion.
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