Rebecca Capozzi obtains summary judgment in favor of her client in federal defamation case
MBB+M Shareholder Rebecca Capozzi secured judgment in favor of her client, a psychiatrist, in a hybrid defamation and employment discrimination case in the Federal District Court of Massachusetts. The plaintiff alleged that the psychiatrist defamed the plaintiff in the report the psychiatrist authored following a fitness-for-duty evaluation requested by the plaintiff’s employer. The plaintiff further alleged that the defamatory statements contained in the report led to his being placed on unpaid leave by his employer. The Court agreed with Attorney Capozzi’s argument that the psychiatrist’s allegedly defamatory statements were protected by a conditional privilege and that the plaintiff had failed to produce sufficient evidence to establish any abuse of that privilege. Judgement was entered as a matter of law in favor of Attorney Capozzi’s client’s favor and he was dismissed from the case.
