Grasso v. Mottl

Plaintiff filed a lawsuit for defamation against the defendants, alleging that they published three defamatory political mailers during a political campaign. The mailers alleged that plaintiff had defrauded the government by failing to pay sufficient property taxes. The source of the information was research conducted by a third-party research firm retained by the defendants. The trial court granted summary judgment for the defendants and plaintiff appealed, arguing that a genuine question of material fact existed as to whether defendants were aware that the mailers contained false information. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that a triable issue existed as to whether defendants recklessly disregarded the truth in publishing the mailers. (DAVENPORT and ANDERSON, concurring and ANDERSON, specially concurring)