Opinion ID: 1799
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Defamatory Conduct

Text: Sometime after being appointed to the Board, Zutz and Elseth suspected that the Board was involved in various financial improprieties. Accordingly, they launched an independent investigation, during which they gained access to the Board's bank and payroll records. These records confirmed their suspicions. On June 18, 2007, at a formal meeting of the Board, co-Board members Nelson and Stroble complained about the appellants' investigation. Specifically, Nelson and Stroble made statements falsely claiming that the appellants had violated Minnesota law. In an effort to find support for their false accusations, the appellees requested that the Marshall County Commission investigate the matter. County Attorney Michael Williams followed up on this request and hired RoughRider, a North Dakota investigating firm. RoughRider's employee, Kamrowski, conducted an investigation and filed a formal report with Williams. The report contained a number of false allegations against the appellants including conclusions that appellants had engaged in improper acts. Despite the allegations in the report, Williams concluded that appellants had not committed any malfeasance. Although Williams declined to adopt the report's conclusions, appellee Drees sent the report to a wide number of people in Marshall County, thereby falsely representing the report as the final conclusion as to the legality of the appellants' financial investigation. Drees also sent a letter to certain people falsely alleging, among other things, that the Board had lost its insurance as a result of appellants' conduct. Meanwhile, appellee Omdahl joined in making false and disparaging comments about the appellants by sending a letter to the editor of a newspaper in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. The letter falsely contended that appellants had engaged in various illegal and improper acts. Notably, the letter was never published. But, in an effort to obtain an audience for the false statements, Omdahl and Drees brought their letters to the attention of the Marshall County Board of Commissioners.