Opinion ID: 2382410
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: was defendant's statement entitled to the benefit of a qualified privilege?

Text: In Ponticelli v. Mine Safety Appliance Co., 104 R.I. 549, 247 A.2d 303 (1968), this court recognized the defense of qualified privilege even for false and defamatory statements of fact if the occasion for the publication is such that the publisher acting in good faith correctly or reasonably believes that he has a legal, moral or social duty to speak out, or that to speak out is necessary to protect either his own interests, or those of third persons, or certain interests of the public. Id. at 551, 247 A.2d at 305-06. In that case the qualified privilege was applied to a statement made by a supervisor of a manufacturing unit who stated, possibly incorrectly, that the plaintiff had falsified her production records. This court upheld the direction of a verdict in favor of the defendant on the ground that there was insufficient evidence of common-law malice (spite or ill will) [1] to create a jury question. Id. at 555-58, 247 A.2d at 308-09. In the event that the defendant's statement in the case at bar constituted one of fact rather than one of opinion, he would doubtless have been entitled to the benefit of a qualified privilege since his relationship to the administration of Providence College imposed a duty upon him to comment frankly upon the merits of applicants for promotion within his department and to evaluate the qualifications of candidates for such promotion. See Byars v. Kolodziej, 48 Ill. App.3d 1015, 6 Ill.Dec. 814, 363 N.E.2d 628 (1977). It would then have been necessary for us to determine whether the plaintiff had raised, in opposition to the motion for summary judgment, a genuine issue of material fact in respect to common-law malice. On this record, no such genuine issue of fact was raised in the plaintiff's affidavit. In any event, our resolution of the opinion issue makes it unnecessary to apply the doctrine of qualified privilege in this case since such a privilege need not be invoked unless a false statement of fact is at issue. For the reasons stated, the appeal of the plaintiff is denied and dismissed. The entry of summary judgment is affirmed. The papers in the case may be remanded to the Superior Court.