Bridgett C. Alexander v. Hernan Sanchez Trejo

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi considers the defendant’s motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s remaining Mississippi defamation, specifically slander, claim. The dispute concerns a comment allegedly made by the defendant, a physician, to the plaintiff, a hospital nursing director, regarding how she obtained her professional title and degree. The court analyzes whether the statement was defamatory, whether it was privileged, and whether the plaintiff established special harm or slander per se.

Holdings

1. Summary judgment was inappropriate because a genuine dispute existed regarding the words Sanchez used, and Alexander's version of the question could be understood as accusing her of obtaining her professional title through sexual conduct. The statement therefore had the capacity to injure her reputation and could constitute actionable slander.
2. Sanchez was not entitled to summary judgment based on qualified privilege because he failed to show that the communication concerned a subject in which he had an interest or duty, and he identified no competent summary-judgment evidence supporting the asserted privilege.
3. Alexander presented sufficient evidence to create a genuine dispute regarding special harm because she submitted evidence of medical treatment and pharmaceutical expenses allegedly resulting from the statement.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the disputed statement, viewed in the light most favorable to Alexander, was capable of constituting defamatory slander under Mississippi law.
2. Whether Sanchez established a qualified privilege for the statement as a matter of law.
3. Whether Alexander presented sufficient evidence of special harm to create a genuine dispute of material fact on the fourth element of slander.

Disposition

other