From Miller v. Sawant, decided Thursday by Ninth Circuit Judges William Fletcher, Carlos Bea, and John Owens:
In February 2016, Miller and Spaulding [two Seattle police officers] fatally shot Che Andre Taylor, a Black man, as they tried to arrest him. Miller and Spaulding's [defamation] complaint … against [Seattle City Council member Kshama] Sawant [was] based on her remarks, at public protests, that Taylor's shooting was a "blatant murder at the hands of the police," and that Taylor was "murdered by the police."
Summary judgment was proper because Miller and Spaulding did not establish essential elements of their defamation claim, namely: that Sawant's statements were actionable statements of fact (as opposed to nonactionable opinions); that Sawant's statements were false; and that Sawant acted with actual malice.
