Opinion ID: 2232220
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Abuse of the Qualified Privilege

Text: The question arises next as to what a plaintiff must prove once the defendant has demonstrated to the court that an occasion was conditionally privileged. In Mittelman, this court held that actual malice must be proven by a minimum standard of recklessness once the qualified privilege has been established by the defendant. This inquiry was limited, however, to whether a defendant knew the matter was false or had a high degree of knowledge that the matter was false. Because we now omit several factual inquiries from the former test for the qualified privilege and place them in the hands of the jury, we must expand the definition of abuse of a qualified privilege. We now hold that to prove an abuse of the qualified privilege, the plaintiff must show `a direct intention to injure another, or    a reckless disregard of [the defamed party's] rights and of the consequences that may result to him.' ( Bratt v. International Business Machines Corp. (1984), 392 Mass. 508, 514, 467 N.E.2d 126, 131, quoting In re Retailers Commercial Agency, Inc. (1961), 342 Mass. 515, 521, 174 N.E.2d 376, 380.) Thus, an abuse of a qualified privilege may consist of any reckless act which shows a disregard for the defamed party's rights, including the failure to properly investigate the truth of the matter, limit the scope of the material, or send the material to only the proper parties.