A Manhattan appellate court has set a standard to test claims of defamation by implication, finally addressing an open question that the Court of Appeals said almost 20 years ago was unanswered.
“To survive a motion to dismiss a claim for defamation by implication where the factual statements at issue are substantially true, the plaintiff must make a rigorous showing that the language of the communication as a whole can be reasonably read both to impart a defamatory inference and to affirmatively suggest that the author intended or endorsed that inference,” Appellate Division, First Department, Justice Paul Feinman wrote for the panel in Stepanov v. Dow Jones & Company, 11593.
