Bodenheimer v. Superior Court

Opinion

CHRISTIAN, J.

Thomas S. Bodenheimer seeks a writ commanding respondent superior court to refrain from compelling certain discovery.

Real parties in interest, former officers of the Mission Area Health Association, brought suit against four unincorporated associations—the

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Grass Roots Alliance, the Workers Party for Proletarian Socialism, the Rebel Worker Organization, and the Institute for the Study of Labor and Economic Crisis—and against petitioner and other persons alleging that the defendants conspired to defame real parties in interest. The allegedly defamatory communications are the following:

1. An open letter, on the letterhead of the Institute for the Study of Labor and Economic Crisis, signed by petitioner and two other persons and stating, in part: “The current Mission Neighborhood Health Center board and administration are leading the Health Center to virtual destruction through incompetency, irresponsibility, and illegality.. ..There is strong evidence that administrative corruption is a major element at the Health Center, with Health Center funds going for personal travel, personal meals, and other personal gain.... This attempted election fraud and violation of the democratic process was called to the attention by the [defendant] Rebel Worker Organization . ...”

2. An unsigned communication on the letterhead of the Rebel Worker Organization referring to the same dispute and making heated charges: “The only thing ‘inside’ about the Board members is that they are ripping the Mission, ripping people off; they are ‘insiders’ like a cancer inside your body. Clearly the clique tries to slap the ‘outsiders’ label on anyone who won’t go along with their ripoff. .. .We are tired of all the lies and name-calling from a bunch of gangsters who want to stop the people from calling them what they are—enemies of the people. Black, white, or brown, a gangster is a gangster. It’s time to stand up to these thugs and end their stranglehold and intimidation.... United, we can build a good Health Center and drive the poison of corruption out of the Mission.”

3. Another unsigned missive on the letterhead of the Rebel Worker Organization stating in part as follows: “Because the Board members and their cronies in the Administration have been using the Clinic and its money for their own ends, at the expense of patients. Democratic elections would put an end to this graft and corruption.... ”