05/07/2015
Colleen Piccone and Peter Quaglia, both Federal employees residing in New York, brought defamation claims against former Chief Bartels alleging that comments made about their interaction in Dalton constituted slander. Pelletier and Lawless successfully argued that the statements constituted non-actionable opinion. The District court agreed and allowed the Bartels’ motion for summary judgment. Piccone and Quaglia appealed and the First Circuit dismissed the appeal citing all of the arguments proffered by Pelletier and Lawless.