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Christiana Tah, et al. v. Global Witness Publishing, Inc., et al.

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, No. 19-7132, 19-7133 · judgment March 19, 2021


Certiorari denied · November 1, 2021
Pre-decision estimate: 6% cert probability (95% interval 4%–10%)

Before the decision, modestly above the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a D.C. Circuit decision below, a circuit split argued in the petition, and a dissent in the court below (flagged in the petition), and down for a business respondent.

Question presented

Whether a complaint by a public plaintiff alleging defamation sufficiently pleads actual malice, in the absence of direct evidence, by presenting detailed factual allegations from which, when collectively considered, actual malice could plausibly be inferred.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Rodney A. Smolla
Attorney At Law

For respondent
Chad Russell Bowman
Ballard Spahr LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage

Proceedings

  1. Nov 01 2021
    Petition DENIED.
  2. Oct 13 2021
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 10/29/2021.
  3. Sep 27 2021
    Brief of respondents Global Witness Publishing, Inc., et al. in opposition filed.
  4. Aug 27 2021
    Brief amici curiae of Beverly Hills Bar Association, Litigation Section, et al. filed.
  5. Aug 20 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including September 27, 2021.
  6. Aug 19 2021
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from August 27, 2021 to September 27, 2021, submitted to The Clerk.
  7. Jul 26 2021
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due August 27, 2021)