Miller v. Sawant, No. 21-35004 (9th Cir. 2021)
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Seattle police officers sued, alleging that they were defamed by Sawant, a Seattle City Council member, through comments Sawant made about a deadly police shooting in which the plaintiffs were involved. The district court dismissed the claims, finding that the complaint failed adequately to allege that Sawant’s remarks were “of and concerning” them.
The Ninth Circuit reversed. Sawant’s words suggested that her remarks were directed not only at the police generally, but also at the individual officers involved in the shooting. She told the crowd that the shooting constituted “a blatant murder at the hands of the police,” and she called for the Seattle Police Department to be held accountable “for their . . . individual actions.” The complaint plausibly alleged that some of those who read or heard Sawant’s remarks— the plaintiffs’ families, friends, and colleagues, and members of the general public—knew that the plaintiffs were the officers involved in the shooting and that these readers and listeners understood that Sawant’s remarks were directed at the plaintiffs. The district court erred in concluding that no reasonable person could conclude that Sawant’s remarks concerned the individual officers but rather spoke to broader issues of police accountability; at most, the district court identified one reasonable interpretation of Sawant’s words, not the only reasonable interpretation. Where a communication is capable of two meanings, one defamatory and one not, it is for a jury, not a judge, to determine which meaning controls.
Court Description: Defamation. The panel reversed the district court’s dismissal of an action brought by Seattle police officers who alleged they were defamed by Defendant Kshama Sawant, a member of the Seattle City Council, through comments Sawant made about a deadly police shooting in which Plaintiffs were involved. The district court dismissed Plaintiffs’ defamation claims on the ground that their third amended complaint failed adequately to allege that Sawant’s remarks were “of and concerning” them. In reversing the district court, the panel first determined that Sawant’s own words suggested that her remarks were directed not only at the police generally, but also at the individual officers involved in the shooting. She told the crowd that the shooting constituted “a blatant murder at the hands of the police,” and she called for the Seattle Police Department to be held accountable “for their . . . individual actions.” Second, the complaint plausibly alleged that some of those who read or heard Sawant’s remarks— Plaintiffs’ families, friends, and colleagues, as well as MILLER V. SAWANT 3 members of the general public—knew that Plaintiffs were the officers involved in the shooting. Third, the complaint plausibly alleged that these readers and listeners understood that Sawant’s remarks were directed at Plaintiffs. The panel held that under the governing federal pleading standard, Plaintiffs plausibly alleged that Sawant’s communications were of and concerning them. The panel disagreed with the district court’s conclusion that no reasonable person could conclude that Sawant’s remarks concerned the individual officers but rather spoke to broader issues of police accountability. The panel held that at most, the district court identified one reasonable interpretation of Sawant’s words, not the only reasonable interpretation. Where a communication is capable of two meanings, one defamatory and one not, it is for a jury, not a judge, to determine which meaning controls. Here, Sawant’s words reasonably carried with them the defamatory meaning Plaintiffs had assigned to them. Accordingly, the panel reversed the district court’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings.
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