From Lucey v. Kinnon, decided Dec. 15 by the Massachusetts Appeals Court, in an opinion by Justice John Englander, joined by Judges Eric Neyman and Joseph Ditkoff (affirming a decision I blogged about here in 2024):
The defendant Neil Kinnon insulted the plaintiff, Scott Lucey, on the webpage for a Facebook group known as "Malden (MA) Politics." {Kinnon is a former Malden city councillor, and Lucey, an attorney, had been a frequent participant in Malden political discussions.} Specifically, in responding to a comment that Lucey had posted on June 7, 2023, Kinnon stated,
"I'm beginning to wonder if you are capable of reading. Might want to read again and anybody who would hire you to be their attorney God Bless them, because someone must have taken the Bar exam for you" (emphasis added)….
"Statements that are merely 'rhetorical hyperbole,' or that express a 'subjective view,' are not statements of actual fact." … Here, the statement at issue is rhetorical hyperbole, and would not be understood otherwise by a reasonable person reading the statement in context. The context itself is banter, between two persons whose statements indicate that they had bantered previously.
