From Mahendra v. Winslow, decided today by Judge James Lorenz (S.D. Cal.):
Plaintiff is a medical doctor and works as an OB/GYN. {For purposes of this order, the Court accepts as true Plaintiff's factual allegations.} Plaintiff provided medical services to patients at the Irwin County Detention Center ("ICDC").
In September 2020, a nonprofit organization sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security related to reports about high rates of hysterectomies at ICDC. The letter also expressed concern over COVID-19 measures. Plaintiff was not identified in the letter. The organization then shared the letter with several media outlets. In late September, there were various stories on Plaintiff related to medical procedures at ICDC.
On September 20, 2020, Defendant Don Winslow—a New York Times bestselling author—published statements on his Twitter account about Plaintiff:
Defendant has over 600,000 followers on Twitter.
Plaintiff contends the statements are false. Plaintiff alleges he only performed two hysterectomies on patients at ICDC and the procedures were medically necessary. The patients provided their informed consent to the procedures. Moreover, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement approved the procedures after it conducted an independent review of the treatment, including review from a nurse and an independent doctor. That review process takes about two weeks.
Five days before the Contested Tweet, it was revealed that the allegations about Plaintiff were not based on first-hand accounts, and ICDC (in addition to the hospital) confirmed Plaintiff only performed two hysterectomies on ICDC patients.
Plaintiff sued for libel, and the court allowed the claim to go forward. It concluded plaintiff wasn't a public official and thus didn't have to prove "actual malice":
