Opinion ID: 761244
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Defamation under New Jersey Law

Text: 30 Judge Batts held that Lee's complaint failed to state a claim for defamation under New Jersey law because New Jersey does not recognize defamation by conduct. We agree. 31 To state a claim for defamation under New Jersey law, a plaintiff must allege: (1) a false and defamatory statement; (2) an unprivileged publication to a third party; (3) fault amounting to at least negligence on the part of the publisher; and (4) damages. See Feggans v. Billington, 291 N.J.Super. 382, 677 A.2d 771, 775 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1996). 32 Lee argues that Bankers Trust defamed him not by a statement in the usual sense, but by its conduct in searching his office and refusing to allow him to come to work for a few days. In New Jersey, [t]he threshold inquiry in a slander lawsuit is 'whether the language used is reasonably susceptible of a defamatory meaning.'  Ward v. Zelikovsky, 136 N.J. 516, 643 A.2d 972, 978 (N.J.1994) (quoting Kotlikoff v. The Community News, 89 N.J. 62, 444 A.2d 1086, 1088 (N.J.1982)). Determining whether a statement is susceptible of a defamatory meaning is a question of law for the court. See id. 33 Three factors inform the assessment of potential defamatory meaning: (1) content; (2) verifiability; and (3) context. See id. The content factor requires a court to examine the fair and natural meaning that ordinary persons of reasonable intelligence would ascribe to the statement. Romaine v. Kallinger, 109 N.J. 282, 537 A.2d 284, 288 (N.J.1988). The verifiability factor focuses on whether the statement was one of objective fact or subjective opinion--the more subjective the statement, the less likely it is to have a defamatory meaning. See Ward, 643 A.2d at 979-80; see also Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., 497 U.S. 1, 17-21, 110 S.Ct. 2695, 111 L.Ed.2d 1 (1990). Finally, courts must consider the impression created by the statement, as well as the general tenor of the expression. Ward, 643 A.2d at 980. When assessed in light of these three factors, we conclude that any statements published by Bankers Trust are not reasonably susceptible of a defamatory meaning.
34 Lee argues that the search of his desk and the order to stay away from work were the functional equivalent of statements that he was a thief. We disagree. 35 Most authorities recognize that actions may indeed be statements, and can support a defamation claim. See Restatement (Second) of Torts § 566. For certain types of conduct, this rule makes eminently good sense. For example, an affirmative nod in response to a question about a person's reputation might be highly defamatory. Other sorts of actions, however, such as taking a breath or turning one's head in response to a noise, usually have little factual content. Thus, assessing the possible defamatory content of an action is an ephemeral task. However, as the issue of defamatory content is one of law for the court to resolve, this difficult question is properly resolved on a motion to dismiss. See Ward, 643 A.2d at 978. 36 In this case, Bankers Trust looked through Lee's desk and advised him to stay away from work. To a reasonable observer, its actions connoted, at worst, its suspicion of Lee and its opinion that he might be involved in wrongdoing. The search and the request that he stay away from work for a few days would not be taken as objective statements of fact by an observer, but rather would be seen as intimations of a suspicion that Lee might be involved in problems with the escheatable funds. Thus, we find that the content of Bankers Trust's actions weighs against a finding of defamatory meaning.
37 As statements of opinion, Bankers Trust's actions are not verifiable in any meaningful sense. That the bank suspected Lee of wrongdoing is not the sort of statement of objective fact that can support a claim of defamation. Opinion cannot defame unless a reasonable factfinder would conclude that the statement implies reasonably specific assertions of fact. See Milkovich, 497 U.S. at 18-20, 110 S.Ct. 2695. To the extent that Bankers Trust's actions implied anything, it would have been a vague assertion of suspicion of some undisclosed wrongdoing by Lee. Its actions therefore are not sufficiently verifiable to have a defamatory meaning.
38 The context in which Bankers Trust acted toward Lee cuts both ways. On the one hand, Lee was being investigated in a climate where many Bankers Trust employees had some knowledge that wrongdoing was suspected. Thus, Bankers Trust's actions could arguably be interpreted to harm Lee's reputation. 39 On the other hand, Bankers Trust made no public statements about Lee and the suspected wrongdoing. Because the bank never made an accusatory statement about Lee, the context of its actions support the conclusion that they connoted, at most, its opinion that Lee might be involved in wrongdoing. As explained above, a contingent, subjective statement of this type lacks defamatory content under New Jersey law. See Ward, 643 A.2d at 979-80.
40 Weighing all three factors separately, and then together, we conclude that Bankers Trust's actions, which at most implied that it suspected Lee of some vague wrongdoing, do not constitute a defamatory statement under New Jersey law. Our conclusion is bolstered by the only New Jersey case remotely on point. In Schwartz v. Leasametric, Inc., 224 N.J.Super. 21, 539 A.2d 744 (N.J.Super.Ct.App.Div.1988), the court rejected a claim of defamation where an employer performed a non-consensual search of an employee's desk, while aiming abusive language at the employee. The court took pains to explain that the employer's requests for plaintiff's keys and files and his offer of a recommendation letter were not defamatory. Although plaintiff objected to Brown's searching of his car and desk for the missing report, these actions were not defamatory statements. Id. at 747. 41 Under the circumstances of this case, we find, as a matter of law, that Bankers Trust's actions towards Lee are not susceptible of a defamatory meaning.