| Taus v. Loftus | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Decided February 26, 2007 | |
| Full case name | Nicole Taus v. Elizabeth Loftus, et al. |
| Citation(s) | 40 Cal. 4th 683, 151 P.3d 1185 |
| Case history | |
| Prior history | Unpublished, 2005 WL 737747 |
| Holding | |
| That defendants' course of conduct was in furtherance of free speech within meaning of anti-SLAPP statute; one author's public statements at conference about subject were "newsworthy," and thus not actionable as public disclosure of private facts; statements at conference were privileged from defamation claim; author's use of subject initials in deposition in unrelated case was not actionable; defendants' conduct in obtaining court records was not actionable intrusion into private matters; and subject stated prima facie case of intrusion by alleging author obtained personal information by misrepresenting her association with author of original article. | |
| Court membership | |
| Chief Justice | Ronald M. George |
| Associate Justices | Joyce L. Kennard, Marvin R. Baxter, Kathryn M. Werdegar, Ming W. Chin, Carlos R. Moreno, Carol A. Corrigan |
| Case opinions | |
| Majority | George, C.J., joined by Kennard, Werdegar, Chin, and Corrigan, JJ. |
| Concur/dissent | Moreno, J., joined by Baxter, J. |
| Laws applied | |
| Cal. Civ. Proc. Code § 425.16 | |
Overruled by | |
| Implicitly overruled in Oasis W. Realty, LLC v. Goldman 250 P.3d 1115 (Cal. 2011); recognized by Burrill v. Nair, 217 Cal. App. 4th 357, 380 (Cal. Ct. App. 2013), review denied (Oct. 2, 2013). | |
Taus v. Loftus, 151 P.3d 1185 (Cal. 2007) was a Supreme Court of California case in which the court held that academic researchers' publication of information relating to a study by another researcher was newsworthy and subject to protection under the state's anti-SLAPP act. The court noted that the defendants had not disclosed the plaintiff's name and that Nicole Taus had disclosed it herself when she filed the case under her own name. The court did find that Taus had alleged a prima facie case that Loftus had misrepresented herself during the investigation and that this one count may proceed to trial.
The case involved the initial research of David Corwin into child sexual abuse and repressed memory in 1997. Elizabeth F. Loftus and Melvin J. Guyer were skeptical of the research and investigated the claims that Corwin made. In 2002, Loftus and Guyer published the results of their inquiry, and Taus filed a defamation and invasion of privacy lawsuit the following year.
Having lost on a majority of her claims at the California Supreme Court, Taus settled with Loftus for minimal amount to avoid being liable for attorney fees. Taus remained liable for the attorney fees of the other defendants.