Erickson Cabin, LLC v. Busey Bank, No. 21-2280 (8th Cir. 2022)
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Plaintiff filed a third-party slander-of-title claim against various defendants under Missouri law. Plaintiffs purchased a property in Putnam County, Missouri. Under Missouri law, a plaintiff must prove four elements for a slander of title claim: (1) an interest in the property, (2) that the words published were false, (3) “that the words were maliciously published,” and (4) that the plaintiff “suffered pecuniary loss” “as a result of the false statement.” The district court found the first two elements were met, but Plaintiff’s claim fails because it did not establish a dispute of material fact on the malice element
Here, the court found that the undisputed facts reflect only an “innocently or ignorantly made” mistake. They show that Defendants made an error in their normal course of duties, that Defendant told Plaintiff the error would be corrected as necessary, and that Defendant eventually corrected that error with its 2019 Affidavit. The court held that Plaintiff has produced no evidence that undermines the Defendants’ credibility, nor identified anything that suggests malice, or a reason for Defendants to harbor ill-will. Therefore, Plaintiff has not produced even a “scintilla” of contravening evidence. Thus, the court found that because Plaintiff failed to establish a genuine issue of material fact on a required element for its claim, the court affirmed the district court's granting of summary judgment for the Defendants.
Court Description: [Benton, Author, with Chief Judge Smith and Judge Kelly, Circuit Judges) Civil Case Diversity - Slander of Title. After a prior lien holder erroneously executed a deed of release, the subsequent purchaser of the property brought a slander of title action against the lien holder. The district court properly granted summary judgment, concluding the error was not malicious; as the error was made in the normal course of duties, the employees notified the parties that the error would be corrected and the error was in fact corrected.
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