Via Eugene Volokh at Reason:
From Magistrate Judge Richard A. Lanzillo in Peschmann v. Quayle (W.D. Pa. Aug. 13, 2019):
[Marinka] Peschmann attempts to state a defamation claim against [Stephen] Quayle, arguing that his comment that she had sexual relations with the devil imputes serious sexual misconduct to her and therefore constitutes defamation per se. [Quayle's statement was, "When I hear a woman making a claim to a national editor of a major Internet uh, uh, uh presence, news presence, and talking about sleeping with the devil … If someone says they are sharing the bed with the devil that means they are having sex with an entity, okay?"]Professor Volokh sits in a comfy endowed chair as the Gary T. Schwartz Distinguished Professor of Law at UCLA.
Courts, for certain, have found false allegations of serious sexual conduct to be capable of defamatory meaning. For example, a claim that a college professor "falsely and maliciously stated to [University] employees and other third parties that she had been sexually assaulted and harassed by [another professor], when in fact, she had not" imputed serious sexual misconduct and stated a claim for defamation per se. A statement that a plaintiff "ran young girls for him down at spring training, ages 12 to 14 … so that's statutory rape every time you do that" was capable of a defamatory meaning. Likewise, a public statement that a plaintiff was "an attacker," thereby "forever labeling him in print as a violent sexual deviant" was also found to be sufficient to state a claim for per se defamation. Asserting to others that a plaintiff had committed "adulterous sexual conduct," was "a slut," "the queen of sluts," and a "whore" also was found to capable of a defamatory meaning and, therefore, stated a claim of per se defamation. Finally, a false claim made to and subsequently published by a local newspaper that a high school band director had sexually harassed students stated a claim for defamation because it alleged serious sexual misconduct.
Here, however, Quayle argues, and the Court agrees, that his statement was pure hyperbole or an epithet, such that it was not provable and thus not defamatory. Statements which cannot be proven true or false, such as insults and name-calling, even if offensive, are not capable of a defamatory meaning. And the Constitution actually protects such words....MORE
My correspondent also included a story from Successful Farming "Agronomy Tip: Add Sulfur to Your Fertility Program" which might be an oblique reference to the ancient association of brimstone/sulfur to evil.
Or she may have been triggered by the 'Satan 2' story yesterday.
Further your affiant sayeth naught.
