Court Opinion

ID: 9737484
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 19:26:35.433915+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:23:59.260213
License: Public Domain

FINE, J.
(concurring). I concur in the result. First, the Minority Brotherhood and the individual defendants had, as a matter of law, a conditional privilege to comment to superiors about Captain Miller and his memorandum. See Lathan v. Journal Co., 30 Wis. 2d 146, 152, 140 N.W.2d 417, 420 (1966); Restatement (Second) of Torts secs. 594, 598 (1976). Second, Captain Miller has not pointed to any evidentiary material in the appellate *608récord that supports his claim that the Minority Brotherhood and the individual defendants abused their conditional privilege. See Zinda v. Louisiana Pacific Corp., 149 Wis. 2d 913, 924-925, 440 N.W.2d 548, 553 (1989) (adopting Restatement (Second) of Torts secs. 600 through 605A). Thus, the Minority Brotherhood and the individual defendants were entitled to summary judgment. See Rule 802.08, Stats. Accordingly, there is no need to decide the close question of whether Captain Miller, was a "public official" for the purposes of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, 376 U.S. 254 (1964), and its progeny. See Gross v. Hoffman, 227 Wis. 296, 300, 277 N.W. 663, 665 (1938) (only dispositive issue need be discussed).