Opinion ID: 1825990
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: are the letters conditionally privileged as a matter of law?

Text: [9-12] If, as the trial court held and we have agreed, the two letters are capable of a defamatory meaning, Condes next contends that the letters involved are conditionally privileged as a matter of law. The contention is that a manufacturer is or ought to be conditionally privileged to notify the customers of a competitor that the competitor's products are being made with stolen trade secrets or that they infringe on valid patent rights. Our court has held that a person who has an interest in a particular subject is conditionally privileged to communicate in good faith with a person having a corresponding interest or duty in relation to the particular subject matter. [12] The Restatement of Torts states that an occasion is conditionally privileged if the communication affects a sufficiently important interest of the publisher and the recipient's knowledge of the defamatory matter will be of service in the lawful protection of the interest. [13] In the area of conditional privileges, the Restatement of Torts has been approved of and adopted by this court. [14] However a conditional privilege is subject to the limitation that persons making the statements have reasonable grounds for believing the truth of the statements made and that the statements made are reasonably calculated to accomplish the privileged purpose. [15] It follows that, on demurrer since malice is alleged, the defense of conditionally privileged purpose reasonably carried out is not available. [16]