Bergeson, LLP Obtains Summary Judgment for the American Medical Association in Defamation Lawsuit

Bergeson, LLP is pleased to announce that the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles, has granted summary judgment in favor of its client, the American Medical Association (“AMA”), and against plaintiff Dr. Edward H. Livingston in Livingston v. American Medical Association, Case No. 22STCV09441. The Honorable Rolf M. Treu granted summary judgment on the claims that remained in the First Amended Complaint – libel, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. In its ruling, the Court found that Dr. Livingston is a limited public figure who could not establish by clear and convincing evidence that the allegedly defamatory statement was made with actual malice. The Court further found that even if Dr. Livingston were treated as a private figure, Dr. Livingston could not establish actual damages caused by the statement at issue. Because the libel claim failed, the Court ruled that the false light invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims necessarily failed as well. The action was dismissed with prejudice. Firm partners Jaideep Venkatesan and Susan Bower, affiliated counsel Rebecca Kaufman, and associates Andrew Johnson and Dennis Murphy, Jr. represented the AMA in this matter.

Dr. Livingston filed the lawsuit in March 2022, asserting six causes of action arising from the controversy surrounding a JAMA podcast he hosted discussing structural racism in medicine. Led by Ms. Kaufman and Ms. Bower, Bergeson filed a special motion to strike the complaint under California’s anti-SLAPP statute. That motion resulted in the elimination of Dr. Livingston’s claims for wrongful termination, slander, and public disclosure of private facts, as well as 10 of the 11 allegedly defamatory statements raised in the First Amended Complaint. The Court of Appeal, Second Appellate District, affirmed that ruling, with only a limited reversal reinstating the false light invasion of privacy claim as to the single surviving defamatory statement. The trial court found that AMA had substantially succeeded on its anti-SLAPP motion and subsequently awarded AMA $109,528.00 in attorneys’ fees and $1,698.00 in costs as sanctions against Dr. Livingston. Following these rulings, only three claims remained — libel, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress — all based on a single statement in a Time magazine article. The trial court has now granted summary judgment in the AMA’s favor on each of those remaining claims, resulting in the action being dismissed with prejudice.