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:
