Background
Luis Jaime Castillo Butters, a professor of archaeology, sued the National Academy of Sciences and its president, Marcia McNutt, after the Academy rescinded his membership. The rescission followed a complaint by a former student alleging sexual harassment. The Academy publicly announced the rescission citing a Code of Conduct violation and quoted McNutt stating that members must be role models. Castillo filed claims for defamation, defamation by implication, and false light invasion of privacy. The district court dismissed all counts, holding that the statements were not false or actionable. The appeals were consolidated for review.
The court’s reasoning
The court applied District of Columbia law to the defamation and false light claims. It determined that the statements were capable of defamatory meaning because Section four of the Code of Conduct prohibits sexual harassment, which is odious conduct. The court found that Castillo plausibly alleged the statements were false because he denied violating the Code of Conduct, creating a two-layered statement where the underlying fact was disputed. Regarding the defamation by implication claim, the court found that McNutt’s comments in a ScienceInsider article did not supply affirmative evidence that the defendants intended or endorsed a defamatory inference. The court distinguished prior cases where contextual juxtapositions suggested intent, noting that McNutt’s statement was general and did not explicitly link Castillo to sexual harassment in the quoted text.
The dissent
A defamation by implication stems not from what is literally stated, but from what is implied.
Circuit Judge Henderson
What it means going forward
The case is remanded to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for further proceedings on the defamation and false light claims. The defamation by implication claim remains dismissed.
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