An excerpt from the long decision in Shapley v. Lowell by Judge Richard Leon (D.D.C.) filed today:
This case arises from the multi-year criminal investigation into Hunter Biden's tax compliance. Two of the Internal Revenue Service's special agents involved, plaintiffs Gary Shapley and Joseph Ziegler, revealed details about the investigation to Congress and the media due to their concerns that the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service were giving Hunter Biden preferential treatment during the course of the investigation. Plaintiffs filed this suit against one of Hunter Biden's counsel, Abbe Lowell, alleging that he sent defamatory statements to the media that accuse plaintiffs of violating federal law….
For a statement to be "actionable," it must at least express or imply a verifiably false fact about the plaintiffs. … "[W]hen a writer gives a statement of opinion that is based upon true facts that are revealed to readers … such opinions generally are not actionable so long as the opinion does not otherwise imply unstated defamatory fact." …
Starting with context, the documents in which the challenged statements appear, and the circumstances of their alleged publication, cut against these statements being actionable. The statements are not isolated accusations of wrongdoing, as presented in the Complaint, but rather reasoned—albeit aggressive—positions that Biden's attorneys took in the course of representing and advocating for their client. During a criminal investigation of then-sitting President Joe Biden's son, Government agents disclosed details about the investigation to Congress and the media. Biden's defense attorneys wrote letters to Government officials in an attempt to stop more information about their client from becoming public. The challenged statements are contained in these letters.
