From Dever v. Dugan, decided by a panel of the Vermont Supreme Court (Harold E. Eaton, Jr., Karen R. Carroll & Nancy J. Waples) on June 12:
Plaintiff was performing work at Amy's Bakery in Brattleboro…. Dugan owned the property where the business was located.
Plaintiff alleged in his complaint that Dugan stated "that, as owner of [the] property, he had the right to approve or refuse, anyone doing work in or on his building," and "he would not allow [plaintiff] to work in his building" because "[plaintiff] had sued people for whom he had worked in the past," and "there was a good chance" that plaintiff would sue them and "he didn't want to take that chance." According to plaintiff, Dugan told Comerchero [who owned Amy's Bakery] that if she did not terminate plaintiff immediately, he would evict her.
Plaintiff also alleged that Dugan gave Comerchero a list of cases that plaintiff had been involved in for use in a breach-of-contract case that plaintiff brought against her. While plaintiff referred to this list of cases as "malicious defamation," there was no allegation that plaintiff was not in fact involved in these suits.
The trial court rejected Dever's slander claim:
