Supreme Court of Connecticut
Netscout Systems, Inc. v. Gartner, Inc.
January 21, 2020334 Conn. 396
Summary
The court affirmed summary judgment for Gartner on NetScout’s defamation and CUTPA claims. It held that the challenged market-report rankings, category descriptions, cautions, and objectivity representations were nonactionable opinions because they were subjective, comparative, vague, and not objectively verifiable, and it further held that NetScout lacked sufficient evidence of a pay-to-play scheme. The court resolved the appeal primarily under defamation law rather than deciding the parties’ First Amendment arguments concerning public-figure status and actual malice.