Greene v. Tinker

Summary

The court affirmed the judgment after concluding that Greene's complaint to the clinic about Tinker's alleged confidentiality breach was conditionally, not absolutely, privileged, and that the jury could find Greene abused that privilege. It also upheld the rulings rejecting summary judgment based on discovery disputes, admitting late-disclosed witness testimony, excluding alleged prior bad-acts evidence, instructing on defamation per se, directing a verdict on abuse of process, and awarding attorney's fees. The court held that the First Amendment does not provide an all-purpose defense to a private defamation claim based on a complaint to an employer.