Zia Chishti v. Tatiana Spottiswoode
Split Score
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Case Summary
Disposition
Affirmed
The 12th Circuit (D.C. Circuit) affirmed the district court’s dismissal of Zia Chishti and Sarah Pobereskin’s defamation-based lawsuit against Tatiana Spottiswoode and her attorneys. The court held that Spottiswoode’s congressional testimony was absolutely privileged, her post-hearing media statements were protected opinions or covered by the fair-reporting privilege, and that legislative privilege also barred related breach-of-contract and derivative tort claims. Accordingly, all claims were dismissed with prejudice.
Circuit Split Identified
Legal Issue
Whether the absolute litigation (and by close analogy, legislative) privilege extends beyond defamation-based claims to bar breach-of-contract actions arising out of the same protected statements.
Circuit Positions
Absolute privilege can extend to breach-of-contract claims when the contract claim is predicated on the same protected statements.
Absolute privilege is confined to defamation and does not bar otherwise viable breach-of-contract causes of action.
Conflict Summary
Several circuits have held that the absolute privilege can bar breach-of-contract claims when the alleged contractual breach is inseparable from the privileged communication, while others limit the privilege strictly to tort claims sounding in defamation.