• by Ray Schultz , January 17, 2023

A weekly California newspaper has avoided legal liability while protecting its First Amendment rights. 

California’s Sixth Appellate Court upheld a lower court ruling tossing a defamation suit filed by a losing political candidate against the Palo Alto Weekly.  

Christopher Boyd, who in 2018 lost an election to the Palo Alto Board of Education, in which he came in last, sued the Palo Alto Weekly and its parent company Embarcadero Media for defamation, according to Palo Alto online. 

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Sunil Kulkarni granted Embarcadero Media’s motion to dismiss in July 2020. 

Both Kulkarni and the appeals court determined that Boyd did not present any admissible evidence that the Weekly was guilty of false reporting or that it acted with actual malice.  

The appeals court found that the paper had “done its due diligence in its pre-publication investigations.”  

It also affirmed Kulkarni’s ruling that the Weekly had acted within the scope of a protected activity in reporting on an election candidate. 

According to Palo Alto Online, the paper questioned Boyd’s claims concerning the nature of an educational foundation he claimed to operate.