Court Opinion

ID: 9932444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2024-02-09 18:40:47.6754+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:49:02.409737
License: Public Domain

Here, these defendants were not engaged in any business relationship with this plaintiff. They did not seek to make statements regarding him and were not volunteers in doing so. To the contrary, they were sought out by the plaintiff's agent for the purpose of securing statements regarding the plaintiff. They gave these statements upon the plaintiff's own assurance that they were free to speak without fear of having to defend a lawsuit for having spoken openly and freely. To allow this plaintiff, under these facts, to sue these defendants goes too far, in my opinion. I consider this to be an unwarranted extension of the holding in Barnes v. Birmingham Int'l Raceway,551 So.2d 929 (Ala. 1989). Therefore, I concur in the result as to the majority's ruling in the *Page 201 
defamation claim, and I dissent as to its ruling regarding the other claims.