Opinion ID: 752986
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the defamation claims

Text: 21 Cook's amended complaint includes two counts of defamation per se (Counts I and II) and two counts of defamation per quod (Counts III and IV). The district court dismissed the first count of each type (Counts I and III) (Pl. 16 at 2-3; 5) on statute of limitations grounds. Because Cook did not raise or argue the propriety of these dismissals on appeal, the matter is waived, and this Court affirms the district court as to these counts. 22 As to the second claim of each type (Counts II and IV) (Pl. 16 at 3-4; 5-6), the district court first resolved a choice of law dispute in favor of applying Ohio law, then dismissed the claims. The court dismissed the defamation per se count because the utterances alleged did not, as a matter of law, amount to defamation per se under controlling Ohio decisions. It dismissed the claim of defamation per quod on the ground that the utterances alleged were expressions of opinion and therefore protected by an absolute privilege. This Court affirms the choice of law ruling but reverses the decision to dismiss each count, because the district court again departed from the limited analysis appropriate on a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6).
23 The parties suggest only two possible answers to the choice of law question presented: either Ohio law or Illinois law should control the defamation claims. Winfrey contends that Ohio law is the proper choice, because that state was the domicile of the alleged victim (Cook) at the time the defamatory statements are claimed to have been uttered. Cook, on the other hand, argues that Illinois law should apply because the bulk of the harm that he suffered as a result of the (alleged) statements took place in Illinois. 24 A federal court sitting in diversity applies the choice of law rules of the state in which it sits. Klaxon Co. v. Stentor Elec. Mfg. Co., 313 U.S. 487, 496, 61 S.Ct. 1020, 1021, 85 L.Ed. 1477; Birchler v. Gehl Co., 88 F.3d 518, 520 (7th Cir.1996). This Court held in 1994 that in multistate defamation cases, Illinois cases indicate that the applicable law is that of the victim's domicile, period. Rice v. Nova Biomedical Corp., 38 F.3d 909, 916 (7th Cir.1994), certiorari denied, 514 U.S. 1111, 115 S.Ct. 1964, 131 L.Ed.2d 855. Although Cook goes to great lengths to convince us that the rule identified in Rice is too sweeping and that Illinois law leaves room for the rare case in which the greater harm accrues to the victim in a state other than the one where he or she is domiciled, we see nothing in the Illinois cases to convince us that Rice was incorrect. This Court therefore affirms the district court's use of Ohio law to evaluate both of Cook's defamation claims.
25 Slander per se means that the slander is accomplished by the very words spoken, whereas [s]lander per quod ... means that the slander results from the listener's interpretation of the words through innuendo. King v. Bogner, 88 Ohio App.3d 564, 624 N.E.2d 364, 366 (1993) (citations omitted). Count II of Cook's amended complaint alleges that he suffered slander per se when Winfrey stated (or at least was quoted in the National Enquirer as having stated), I will fight this suit until I am bankrupt before I give even a penny to this liar [Cook], and It's [this lawsuit] all a pack of lies (see Pl. 16 at 4, pp 21-22). The district court compared these alleged statements with Ohio's definition of slander per se and found as a matter of law that Winfrey did not commit that tort. 26 In order for a remark to be slander per se in Ohio, it must consist of words that import an indictable criminal offense involving moral turpitude or infamous punishment, impute some loathsome or contagious disease that excludes one from society[,] or tend to injure one in one's trade or occupation. King, 624 N.E.2d at 366 (citations omitted). The district court was certainly correct in concluding that Winfrey's alleged statements implied neither a criminal offense involving moral turpitude or infamous punishment nor any kind of disease. Its conclusion that the statements also did not tend to injure Cook in his trade or occupation, however, necessarily resolved factual issues beyond the scope of the pleadings. The amended complaint does not even disclose what Cook's profession is, though we are told in the briefs that he is a real estate broker. 4 It was error to conclude at this early stage that Winfrey's alleged statements could not have been of a type that would tend to injure [Cook] in [his] trade or occupation. We therefore reverse the dismissal of Count II.
27 The district court dismissed Count IV of the amended complaint--alleging defamation per quod from the same statements involved in the defamation per se claim--on the ground that the statements were expressions of opinion and therefore entitled to absolute privilege. Although it is certainly correct that the Ohio constitution affords an absolute privilege to expressions of opinion, see Ohio Const. § 11, art. I; Vail v. The Plain Dealer Publ'g Co., 72 Ohio St.3d 279, 649 N.E.2d 182, 183 (1995), certiorari denied, 516 U.S. 1043, 116 S.Ct. 700, 133 L.Ed.2d 657, the conclusion that the privilege applied to the allegedly defamatory statements in this case required the district court to resolve factual issues that should not be reached on a motion to dismiss under Rule 12(b)(6). 28 The Ohio Supreme Court has held that a court assessing whether speech is protected opinion must consider the totality of the circumstances. Vail, 649 N.E.2d at 183. More specifically, the court should examine the specific language at issue, whether the statement is verifiable, the general context of the statement, and the broader context in which the statement appeared. Id. (citing Scott v. News-Herald, 25 Ohio St.3d 243, 496 N.E.2d 699 (1986)); see also Ohio Savings Ass'n v. Business First of Columbus, Inc., 43 Ohio App.3d 215, 540 N.E.2d 320, 324 (1988). Bearing these factors in mind, it is not possible to say as a matter of law that Cook could prove no set of facts consistent with the amended complaint that would remove the alleged statements from the realm of protected opinion. In addition, Cook points to one Ohio opinion that observes that the statement In my opinion Jones is a liar is really a factual assertion masked as opinion, and is therefore not privileged. North Coast Cable Ltd. Partnership v. Hanneman, 98 Ohio App.3d 434, 648 N.E.2d 875, 879-80 (1994). This is enough to reinforce the point that determining whether or not Winfrey's alleged statements were, in all the circumstances, opinions or assertions of fact requires an inquiry that goes beyond the allegations of the complaint into a consideration of the context in which the statements were uttered. It was therefore error for the district court to grant Winfrey's motion to dismiss with regard to Count IV, and we reverse. 29