Duhe v. Loyola Univ. of New Orleans
| Docket Number | 22-C-292 |
| Decision Date | 30 May 2023 |
| Parties | SONYA DUHE v. LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS, TANIA TETLOW, AND MICHAEL GUISTI IN RE LOYOLA UNIVERSITY OF NEW ORLEANS, TANIA TETLOW, AND MICHAEL GUISTI |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Louisiana (US) |
Panel composed of Judges Robert A. Chaisson, Stephen J. Windhorst, and Cornelius E. Regan, Pro Tempore
In this defamation suit brought by Sonya Duhe against her former employer over statements made in a student newspaper and in a university-wide email, defendants Loyola University of New Orleans, Tania Tetlow, and Michael Guisti seek supervisory review of a May 11, 2022 judgment of the trial court denying their Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 971 special motion to strike and awarding Dr. Duhe attorney's fees and costs associated with the motion. For the following reasons, we grant this writ, reverse the judgment of the trial court, render judgment in favor of relators awarding them reasonable attorney's fees and costs, remand this matter to the trial court for a determination of the appropriate amount of attorney's fees and costs, and dismiss Dr. Duhe's claims against relators with prejudice.
Dr. Duhe, a former journalist and news anchor, worked as the Director of Loyola University School of Communication and Design from 2009 to 2020. During that time she also served as a tenured professor within the school teaching students. In March 2020, Dr. Duhe was offered the position of Dean of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass. Communication at Arizona State University and the position of Chief Executive Officer of Arizona Public Broadcasting Service. On May 5, 2020, Dr. Duhe tendered her letter of resignation to Loyola in order to take the positions at ASU and Arizona PBS.
On June 2, 2020, a day on which many users of social media networking services made posts reflecting on the May 25, 2020 death of George Floyd and the larger issue of race in America, Dr. Duhe posted on the social media service Twitter an image in form of a black and white hand intertwined with a caption stating:
For the family of George Floyd, the good police officers who keep us safe, my students, faculty and staff. Praying for peace on this #BlackOutTuesday.
A hashtag - written with a # symbol - is used to index keywords or topics on social media platforms. It allows people to easily find and follow topics they are interested in. Millions of social media users around the world on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook made posts using the #BlackOutTuesday hashtag on that day.
A former student of Dr. Duhe's and 2015 alumnus from the School of Communication and Design program, Whitney Woods, who had previously filed a complaint against Dr. Duhe through the Loyola student grievance reporting system, responded to Dr. Duhe's post with one of her own that accused Dr. Duhe of being a racist, to-wit: "You are one of, if not, THE most racist human that I have ever encountered in a professional setting."
On or about June 4, 2020, Dr. Duhe's Twitter post and Ms. Woods' response were picked up by various news organizations including ASU State Press, Azcentral.com, The Arizona Republic, The Times-Picayune/Advocate, Teen Vogue, and other news sources nationally and around the world.
On Friday, June 5, 2020, the Loyola University student newspaper The Maroon published the first in a series of articles, editorials and letters to the editor which made reference to Dr. Duhe and the allegations made against her by former students. Some of these articles included quotes from Mr. Giusti, a faculty member at the School of Communication and Design.
On Sunday, June 7, 2020, the president of Arizona State University, Mark Searle, publicly announced that ASU had retracted the job offer to Dr. Duhe to be the dean of ASU's Cronkite School.
On Monday, June 8, 2020, Loyola President Tetlow, in a press release email from the Office of the President, sent a letter to Loyola's students, faculty, administration and alumnae that detailed what steps the university was implementing with regard to improving its faculty bias incident reporting system. This letter also made reference to Dr. Duhe and the allegations made against her.
On May 17, 2021, Dr. Duhe filed her petition for damages against Loyola, President Tetlow, and Mr. Giusti, wherein she alleged that statements made by them about her in The Maroon articles and in the June 8, 2020 email from the Office of the President are defamatory per se, defamatory by omission, and were made with malicious intent to defame her. Additionally, Dr. Duhe alleged claims of intentional infliction of emotional distress and false light invasion of privacy. Damages sought include general damages for past, present and future physical and mental anguish, as well as special damages for past, present and future lost wages, loss of wage-earning capacity, loss of employment related benefits, and past and future medical expenses.
On August 17, 2021, relators filed a special motion to strike pursuant to Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 971. A hearing on the special motion to strike was conducted on April 28, 2022. Shortly thereafter, the trial court issued a judgment on May 11, 2022, denying relators' special motion. Relators seek supervisory review of this decision.
In their writ, relators raise the following assignments of error:
A review of a trial court's ruling on a special motion to strike under La. C.C.P. art. 971 presents a question of law. Yount v. Handshoe, 14-919 (La.App. 5 Cir. 5/28/15) 171 So.3d 381, 384. On legal issues, the appellate court gives no special weight to the findings of the trial court, but exercises its constitutional duty to review questions of law de novo and renders judgment on the record. Id. ().
Louisiana Code of Civil Procedure Article 971 provides in pertinent part:
As an initial matter, we consider Dr. Duhe's argument that defendant Loyola University is not entitled to bring a special motion to strike because it is a juridical person with no rights to free speech under the United States or Louisiana constitutions. This argument is without merit. Louisiana courts have consistently held that the "persons" who may bring a special motion to strike under Article 971 include both natural and juridical persons. See Williams v. New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Ctr., 11-1412 (La.App. 4 Cir. 5/11/12), 92 So.3d 572 576, writ granted and reversed on other grounds, 12-1201 (La. 9/21/12), 98 So.3d 299, cert denied, 569 U.S. 963, 133 S.Ct. 2033, 185 L.Ed.2d 896 (2013); Hunt v. Town of New Llano, 05-1434 (La.App. 3 Cir. 5/3/06), 930 So.2d 251, 254, writ denied, 06-1852 (La. 10/27/06), 939 So.2d 1283; Thomas v. City of Monroe Louisiana, 36,526 (La.App. 2 Cir. 12/18/02), 833 So.2d 1282, 1287; Lee v. Pennington, 020381 (La.App. 4 Cir. 10/16/02), 830 So.2d 1037, 1044, writ denied, 02-2790 (La. 1/24/03), 836 So.2d 52; Braxton v. Louisiana State Troopers Ass'n, 21-355 (La.App. 3 Cir. 1/5/22), 333 So.3d 516, 525, writ denied, 22-0201 (La. 4/20/22), 336 So.3d 467. Loyola University, as a juridical person, has the right to file an Article 971 motion.
We turn next to the relators' burden as mover. In cases where speech activities form the basis of claims, the mover must first establish that the cause of action against him arises from an act by him in exercise of his right of petition or free speech under the United States or Louisiana Constitution in connection with a public issue. Yount, 171 So.3d at 386. By its terms, Article 971 applies to a cause of action, not to isolated allegations within a petition with which a litigant takes issue. Jambon v. Queen Bess Bay Owners Ass'n, Inc., 21-626, p.2 (...
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