Appeals court upholds dismissal of Notre Dame professor lawsuit against student newspaper

CNA Staff, Feb 6, 2025 / 10:00 am (CNA).

An Indiana appeals court this week affirmed a prior ruling dismissing a professor’s defamation lawsuit against an independent student newspaper at the University of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame sociology professor Tamara Kay in 2023 sued the Irish Rover over reports that depicted her as supportive of expanding access to abortion, with Kay arguing the paper’s reporting misrepresented her views.

Kay filed the lawsuit over two articles that reported on the professor’s alleged pro-abortion activism, including her alleged efforts, documented by the Rover, to help students obtain both emergency contraception and abortifacients.

In part, Kay argued that a sign she placed on her office door proclaiming it to be a “SAFE SPACE to get help and information on ALL health care issues and access” was related to “student sexual assaults” and “did not pertain to abortion” as the Rover claimed.

The Rover, in response to Kay’s lawsuit, lodged an anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) filing, a motion meant to prevent the use of courts and potential litigation to intimidate people exercising their First Amendment rights.

On Jan. 24, 2024, Judge Steven David of the Indiana Supreme Court dismissed the case under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP law, ruling that Kay’s defamation claim “fails as a matter of law.”

The “alleged defamatory statements were true, within the meaning of the law, not made with actual malice, did not contain a defamatory inference, and there were no damages that were causally linked to the Irish Rover articles,” David wrote in the ruling, concluding that “the statements in the articles were lawful.” Kay filed an appeal in February 2024. 

The appellate court decision, handed down on Jan. 30 by Judge Paul D. Mathias, states that the trial court “properly dismissed Dr. Kay’s complaint under Indiana’s anti-SLAPP statute.”

As evidence, Mathias said the Irish Rover submitted copies of the social media posts it referenced or quoted in its article, a transcript from a panel event on abortion bans Kay spoke at, as well as “articles published in 2022 and 2023 by (or co-authored by) Dr. Kay addressing access to abortion, and the burdens and negative effects of abortion bans.”

Mathias ruled also that it was reasonable for the Irish Rover’s reporters to conclude that Kay’s office door sign was addressing access to abortion and that she was offering assistance to students who needed information about procuring an abortion.

“The designated evidence established that, when the Irish Rover published the articles, the authors of those articles believed that the statements and opinions expressed in it were fair and reasonable and that, in writing the articles, the Irish Rover based its information on reliable sources, particularly as the source for most of the information was gleaned from Dr. Kay’s own statements, her social media, and publications,” Mathias wrote.

The Irish Rover acted in “good faith,” Mathias ruled, in part because the paper’s stated mission is to articulate and defend the Catholic character of the University of Notre Dame, and publishing articles about a faculty member whose views on abortion appeared contrary to the university’s position aligned with this mission. There was no evidence the newspaper asked the university to terminate Kay’s employment or encourage others to do so, he noted.

“The designated evidence established as a matter of law that the Irish Rover acted in good faith and in reasonable basis in law and fact,” Mathias wrote.

CNA attempted to email Kay for comment last year and again on Wednesday but received an automated notification that her Notre Dame mailbox was full.

Joseph DeReuil, who wrote one of the stories named in the suit, told CNA in 2023 that he was “not at all worried about the result of the lawsuit.”

“The Rover’s reporting simply brought her already public advocacy to the attention of the pro-life parts of the Notre Dame community, adding minimal context through her own statements to the Rover,” DeReuil said.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/262041/appeals-court-upholds-dismissal-of-notre-dame-professor-lawsuit-against-student-newspaper