Opinion ID: 197576
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: a shopping list

Text: 9 This appeal offers a large inventory of interleaved legal issues. We pick our way through that inventory by traversing the intersection of the First Amendment and state defamation law as it has developed over time, noting, inter alia, a restriction on the scope of defamation imposed by Maine law. We next discuss one of the two allegedly defamatory statements--the trashy reference--and conclude, as a matter of federal constitutional law, that it cannot support a recovery. We then address the second statement--20 minutes on hold--and conclude that it is actionable. We move at that point to the matter of public concern (but do not resolve it). Finally, because a new trial is required, we offer some guidance to the district court in connection with the role of negligence in Maine defamation cases. 10