Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation

Integrated Healthcare Holdings, Inc. v. Fitzgibbons, No. G036080 (Cal. Ct. App. June 14, 2006)

A medical holding company sued a hospital's medical executive committee ("MEC") member who opposed the company's proposed purchase of four hospitals and whose allegedly disparaging e-mail supposedly stalled negotiations between the company and a health insurer for a higher paying managed care contract. The medical holding company alleged defamation and other causes of action against the MEC member.
The MEC member made a special motion to strike the medical holding company's pleading under the California anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute. The Superior Court denied the physician's motion, and the physician appealed.

The California Court of Appeal held that the physician's e-mail concerned an issue of public interest, that the opinions expressed in the e-mail were not actionable defamation, that the e-mail did not breach the contract in which the medical staff agreed to express public support for the acquisition, and that the physician's e-mail did not form the basis of a claim for interference with a contractual relationship. Accordingly, the physician's motion to dismiss was granted.