From Justice of the Peace Choose Eric Lengthy’s opinion in Solar v. Xu (C.D. Ailing.), determined in Might 2020 however simply posed on Westlaw:
The three Plaintiffs are two former college students and one professor on the College of Illinois. The three Plaintiffs are suing former College of Illinois Professor Gary Xu …. The primary Plaintiff, Xingjian Solar …, a feminine pupil on the College, claims Xu raped her, pressured her to get an abortion, beat her, and tried to hit her with a automobile throughout their two-year relationship. The second Plaintiff, Xing Zhao …, a feminine pupil on the College of Illinois, claims Xu sexually harassed her and took credit score for her work. The third Plaintiff, Ao Wang …, is a professor on the College of Illinois. Professor Wang claims Xu tried to spoil his profession in retaliation for an internet article Professor Wang wrote about Xu abusing feminine college students….
Plaintiffs made public feedback about their allegations towards Xu. The primary Plaintiff, Solar, was interviewed by CBS Morning Information, and a video of the interview was aired on CBS’s tv channel. Moreover, CBS revealed an article of Solar’s interview on CBS Information’ web site. On this interview, Solar acknowledged Xu raped her, beat her, and tried to kill her by operating her over together with his automobile.
The second plaintiff, Zhao, is not quoted within the Sixth Tone report that particulars the allegations towards Xu. {Sixth Tone is an internet journal that’s owned by the Chinese language Authorities. Nonetheless, Sixth Tone’s audience is readers within the western hemisphere.} Within the Sixth Tone article, two females make nameless allegations towards Xu, alleging sexual abuse and sexual harassment. Xu alleges that Zhao was one of many nameless sources for the Sixth Tone article. In response to Xu, Zhao advised Sixth Tone: (1) Xu harassed her; (2) Xu pressured her into horrifying sexual habits; (3) Xu threatened her; and (4) Xu tried to kiss her however his try failed.
The third Plaintiff, Professor Wang, revealed a submit on an internet platform stating Xu sexually harassed college students for 20 years. Moreover, Xu’s Reply states Professor Wang accused him of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and beating ladies by way of web posts from March 11, 2018, till March 19, 2018. Furthermore, Xu’s Reply alleges that Professor Wang posted written statements on an internet site referred to as Weibo that acknowledged Xu sexually assaulted and harassed ladies. Lastly, Xu alleged that Professor Wang acknowledged in an internet submit that he was educated in Thai boxing and will “beat up” Xu….
Xu denies Plaintiffs’ allegations in his Reply, and Xu asserts 4 counterclaims towards the three Plaintiffs [for intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation]….
Solar argues Xu’s defamation counterclaim ought to be dismissed as a result of her interview with CBS Information is protected beneath the Truthful Report Privilege [which covers, among other things, fair reports of judicial proceedings -EV]…. [But] the Illinois Supreme Court docket [has] endorsed Restatement (Second) of Torts § 611 [“Report of Official Proceeding or Public Meeting”] Remark c[, which states] …: “… An individual can’t confer this privilege upon himself by making the unique defamatory publication himself after which reporting to different folks what he had acknowledged.” Importantly, the phrase “publication” on this context is outlined as: “Any act by which defamatory matter is communicated to somebody aside from the individual defamed[.]”
Right here, Solar made statements to a CBS Information reporter asserting sexual assault allegations towards Xu. After Solar gave the interview to CBS, CBS Information made an oral and written report for the general public. Because of this, beneath Remark (c), the reporter and CBS Information are eligible to make use of the Truthful Report Privilege [presumably because they are reporting on Sun’s complaint filed in court six days before -EV], however Solar’s statements should not privileged as a result of Solar made the unique allegedly defamatory assertion, and Solar can’t confer the privilege upon herself….
Notice that not all states observe the § 611 remark c rule; some California courts, for example, conclude (making use of California’s statutory honest report privilege) {that a} plaintiff certainly has an absolute privilege to publicly report the allegations within the grievance that she filed in court docket, simply as third events have an absolute privilege to report on these allegations.
The court docket additionally held that the alleged defamation might type the idea for the intentional infliction of emotional misery counterclaims in addition to the defamation counterclaims:
Right here, Xu has pled adequate details to ascertain the “excessive and outrageous” aspect for his three IIED counterclaims. Particularly, Xu alleged that Plaintiffs made false statements about him committing sexual assaults on college students. At this stage of the litigation, the Court docket should settle for these alleged details as true. The Court docket denies Plaintiffs’ Movement to Dismiss these claims as a result of Xu sufficiently alleged conduct “so outrageous in character, and so excessive in diploma, as to transcend all doable bounds of human decency.” … The Court docket holds {that a} cheap individual would know there’s a excessive chance that false allegations of sexual assault would trigger the accused particular person extreme emotional misery. Because of this, Plaintiffs’ argument is denied…. [And] Xu sufficiently plead that he suffered extreme emotional misery from Plaintiffs’ conduct.