Opinion ID: 1756539
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Qualified Privilege.

Text: The district court submitted the claim of slander against Total and its area manager, Joseph Kuhn, based on Kuhn's statement to Haldeman's potential employer, Flower City, regarding the reason for her discharge. The district court properly ruled that a qualified privilege existed as to that communication. See 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel & Slander § 273, at 791 (1970) (qualified privilege applies to statement by employee or former employee to one having legitimate interest in information). Because a qualified privilege applies, actual malice would have to be established before Haldeman could recover. See Vinson v. Linn-Mar Community School District, 360 N.W.2d 108, 116 (Iowa 1984). The district court so instructed the jury. The burden of proving malice is on the plaintiff. 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel & Slander § 452, at 975-76; 53 C.J.S. Libel & Slander § 101, at 161 (1948). On appeal, defendants Total and Kuhn contend there was insufficient evidence to submit the issue of actual malice. Haldeman, in response, points out that the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to her, and when so viewed, there was sufficient evidence to support a finding of actual malice. She points to her hiring and firing by Total, and to the fact that Kuhn told Flower City she had been discharged for unexplained shortages when in fact he believed she was innocent. In Vinson, we discussed actual malice and contrasted it to implied malice (or malice at law): The malice that is presumed in defamation per se is the kind of malice that our cases call implied malice or malice in law. The want of legal excuse for the act amounts to malice without regard to the motive for the statement. This kind of malice is distinct from actual malice, also called express malice, which does depend on the motive for the statement. Actual malice requires proof that the statement was made with malice in fact, ill-will or wrongful motive. Vinson, 360 N.W.2d at 117, citing Ott v. Murphy, 160 Iowa 730, 740-42, 141 N.W. 463, 468-69 (1913). Actual malice is required in order to defeat a qualified privilege. Vinson, 360 N.W.2d at 116-17; Vojak v. Jensen, 161 N.W.2d 100, 105 (Iowa 1968); 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel & Slander §§ 195, 199, at 698, 705-7; 53 C.J.S. Libel & Slander § 100, at 158-60 (1948). The question of malice is relevant only as to the statement by Kuhn to the manager of Flower City, because only a qualified privilege applies to that statement. (The written statement furnished for Job Service, because it was absolutely privileged, would not be actionable even in the presence of malice. See 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel & Slander § 199, at 705.) In looking at the circumstances surrounding Kuhn's unexplained shortages statement, we first note the actual words used. Even under Haldeman's evidence, Kuhn told Flower City that Haldeman was discharged because of the company's wholesale discharge policy; he did not say she was discharged because of her own dishonesty. In addition, the only motive, or reason, for Kuhn's statement was to respond to an inquiry which Haldeman had herself set in motion by her job application at Flower City. There was no evidence from which a jury could infer any motive founded on ill will toward Haldeman or a desire to harm her. Even though Kuhn had doubts about Haldeman's involvement, he was not asked about his own feelings; he was merely asked why she had been discharged. Haldeman herself had told at least three potential employers the same thingthat she had been discharged because of the company policy. The general rule regarding the qualified privilege in these circumstances is stated this way: It is an established general rule that a communication respecting the character of an employee or former employee is qualifiedly privileged if made in good faith by a person having a duty in the premises to one who has a definite interest therein, and this is true even though the communication contains a charge of crime. So long as good faith is present, the person making the statement is not limited to facts that are within his personal knowledge, but may, and should, pass on to his inquirer all relevant information that has come to him, regardless of whether he believes it to be true or not. But of course, any such communication is actionable if made maliciously. 50 Am.Jur.2d Libel & Slander § 273, at 791. We conclude the court erred in submitting the slander issue because of the lack of evidence of actual malice.