UPDATES & ANALYSIS

Iowa Supreme Court to hear arguments in a defamation case April 3 at Drake Law School

by Rox Laird | April 1, 2025

Did a video recording of a school board meeting posted by the board on its YouTube channel defame a former tennis coach who alleges she was slandered by statements made during the public meeting?

That question will be before the Iowa Supreme Court at an oral argument at the Drake Law School at 9:30 a.m. April 3 in Villarini v. Iowa City Community School District. [Go to On Brief’s Cases in the Pipeline page to read briefs and other court documents filed in this case.]

Former Iowa City West High School varsity tennis coach Amie Villarini claims she was slandered by two student tennis players who addressed the Iowa City School Board at a public meeting and alleged the coach had inappropriately touched them and other players. Villarini sued the school district, claiming the district defamed her when it posted the meeting video online. Villarini also claimed the school district wrongly terminated her coaching contract.

The Johnson County District Court dismissed Villarini’s suit on summary judgment. The district court also denied the school district’s motion to amend its answer to assert a qualified-immunity claim as moot in light of the dismissal. Both Villarini and the school district appealed to the Iowa Supreme Court, and the case was transferred to the Iowa Court of Appeals, which affirmed the district court.

In her application for further review, Villarini argues the Court of Appeals erred in affirming the district court’s grant of the school district’s motion for summary judgment based on the fair-report privilege, which protects the republication of defamatory matter in a report of an official action or of a meeting open to the public that deals with a matter of public concern.

The Court of Appeals cited three Iowa cases dealing with privilege in the context of republication of an event that occurs publicly in open court. In the earliest of those cases, the Iowa Supreme court in Flues v. New Nonpareil Co. (1912) recognized a qualified privilege to fairly and accurately report on judicial proceedings.

“The Court of Appeals further relied on Restatement (Second) of Torts [section] 611 for the principle that the fair-report privilege applies beyond newspapers and other media entities and reporting of events from open court, but acknowledges it has not been addressed or adopted by the Iowa Supreme Court,” Villarini argues. “The only Iowa cases relied on by the Court of Appeals all involve statements made in open court, so the fair report privilege in Iowa does not extend to public meetings as in this case.”

Because the privilege applies only if the alleged slander was republished “in good faith” and without “actual malice,” Villarini also argues that if the Iowa Supreme Court decides the fair-report privilege applies in this case, it should remand for a jury to decide whether the school district acted with actual malice.

Tags: Iowa Supreme Court 2024-25