IMMUNITY

Korbin v. Gastfriend, No. SJC-09251 (Mass. Jan. 20, 2005)

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that the state's anti-SLAPP statute ("Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation") did not provide immunity to a physician for statements he made about another physician during the course of an investigation by the state board of medicine. The court found that the plain language of the statute only applies to statements made to the government on an individual's own behalf, not while acting as a paid expert witness for the government.