An appellate court ruling has breathed new life into Rabbi Pinchas Lipner’s $10 million defamation suit against the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and Richard Goldman, its former president.
In a 2-1 ruling filed on Thursday, May 12, the 1st District Court of Appeal in San Francisco ruled that the oral histories containing Goldman’s critical statements about Lipner were “inherently undiscoverable.” This reversed an earlier ruling that, in waiting roughly 10 years between the document’s publication and filing suit in November of 2002, Lipner had allowed the one-year statute of limitations to lapse.
“I think it’s obviously the right result and we had prevailed on this issue at one point in the trial court, but lost twice in a row also,” said Paul Kleven, Lipner’s attorney.
“I’m happy but not completely surprised.”
Lawyers for Goldman and the federation were surprised, however.
Attorney Barry Lee said the ruling was “not a crushing blow,” and “We think, with all due respect, the majority opinion got it wrong.”
The opinion of Presiding Judge Anthony Kline and Judge James Lambden held that Lipner “with reasonable diligence could not have discovered…the allegedly defamatory statements set forth therein” the history. In his dissent, Judge Paul Haerle wrote that the oral history was less like a confidential memo or financial record and “more akin to books, magazines and newspapers.”
He noted that Goldman’s statements were part of 15 such oral histories comprising the Jewish Community Federation Leadership Oral History Project. The size of this undertaking “suggests rather strongly that [Goldman’s statement] was part and parcel of what had to be an extensive and thus well-known project involving the collection and publication of information about prominent people and events within the San Francisco Jewish community. A ‘reasonable person’ within that community should, therefore, have been ‘on inquiry’ regarding it.”
Lee has not ruled out petitioning the State Supreme Court over the ruling. If and when the case finds its way to trial, a ruling will be made on whether Goldman’s statements that Lipner is “not an honorable man” and “self-serving and an embarrassment” among others are slanderous.
“There are false statements of fact contained within the transcript,” said Kleven.
Lee declined to comment on the case beyond procedural matters.