Claims Against School Board Member Dismissed

Won a dismissal of a school board member on a 12(b)(6) motion. The board member was sued for defamatory comments made during a public school board meeting about a teacher who was terminated from her employment with the district. The board member was the president at the time and felt obliged to deliver to the public an impassioned speech detailing the teacher's transgressions, characterizing them on a scale of "misdemeanors to felonies." The judge  agreed that, while the board president's comments were "excessive, indeed, regrettable," the board member enjoyed the privilege of absolute immunity from suit and the plaintiff made no showing of an abuse of that privilege in her pleadings.