McGarry

Plaintiff Kevin McGarry’s employment was terminated by the University of San Diego (University) as its head football coach in 2003. McGarry subsequently filed a lawsuit against University seeking damages for employment termination, and against University and others for defamation. The employment termination aspect of McGarry’s lawsuit is not involved in the present appeal.

The present appeal involves McGarry’s claims against University and two University officials, Robert Pastoor and Mary Lyons, for defamation. These claims were premised first on statements contained in a newspaper article (the article), published in the San Diego Union-Tribune (Newspaper) two days after McGarry’s employment was terminated, reporting the reasons for the termination. McGarry’s defamation claims were secondarily premised on statements made by Lyons during a meeting with parents of members of the football team concerning McGarry’s employment termination.

All defendants filed motions to strike the defamation claims pursuant to Code of Civil Procedure section 425.16, commonly referred to as the anti-SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) statute. (Equilon Enterprises v.…