“He Admitted Receiving the Password” for the Laptop, but “It Took Him Over an Hour to Log In”
From Palardy v. AT&T Services Inc., decided Friday by Texas Court of Appeals (Dallas) Justice Cory Carlyle, joined by Justices Robbie Partida-Kipness and Dennise Garcia:
Appellant Francis Palardy sued appellees AT&T Services Inc. and International Business Machines Corporation for defamation. Via a staffing firm, Experis, Palardy worked as an IBM contractor on an AT&T project. The project required him to perform technical work on a computer, but when AT&T became aware Palardy appeared to lack even basic computer skills, such as logging on to a laptop, it informed IBM and Experis that Palardy was to be terminated….
The court upheld the rejection of Palardy’s defamation claim, largely under the “common-interest” privilege:
“The common law provides a qualified privilege against defamation liability when ‘communication is made in good faith and the author, the recipient or a third person, or one of their family members, has an interest that is sufficiently affected by the communication.'” This can be “between people having a common business interest in employment-related matters or in reference to matters that the speaker has a duty to communicate to the other.” To prevail on summary judgment, the defendant must conclusively establish a lack of actual malice in making the allegedly defamatory statement. Actual malice means a statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or with reckless disregard for its truth.
First, some background: Palardy relocated to North Texas to start this job on November 26, 2018, having previously coordinated with IBM to have a laptop sent to his prior residence on the West Coast. Without informing Experis, IBM, or AT&T, Palardy left for Texas without having received the laptop. Palardy did not show up for work on the 26th, and appeared the next day but without the laptop. He waited until midday this first day to inform IBM that he did not have a computer, and was seen looking at his phone and reading boo
Article from Reason.com
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