TORTS—AVIATION SAFETY RATINGS AS DEFAMATION: AVIATION CHARTER, INC. V. AVIATION RESEARCH GROUP/US

摘要

In the recent case of Aviation Charter, Inc. v. Aviation Research Group/US, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit held that the First Amendment protected an aviation safety rating published in a newspaper article because it was a subjective assessment incapable of being proved true or false. While a state may choose to extend protection to the safety rating published in this case, the First Amendment does not require such a result. The Eighth Circuit too narrowly construes the Supreme Court's holding that an opinion can imply a false assertion of fact in the seminal case analyzing opinion as defamation, Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co.