Morningstar, Inc. v. Superior Court

Real party in interest brought an action against petitioners alleging libel and intentional interference with prospective economic advantage in connection with petitioners’ publication in their biweekly financial newsletter of a commentary criticizing real party’s advertisements in the Wall Street Journal. After the trial court overruled petitioners’ demurrer, they petitioned this court for writ of mandate. We summarily denied the petition. The California Supreme Court granted petitioners’ petition for review, and we thus vacated our order denying mandate, issuing an alternative writ to be heard before this court. We now hold the complaint fails to state a cause of action and issue a writ of mandate.

Facts and Proceedings Below

Petitioner Morningstar, Inc., is a financial research company providing research, data, and opinions about financial instruments. Its primary function is the collection, interpretation and publication of information about mutual funds. Morningstar publishes a biweekly financial newsletter, Morningstar Mutual Funds, which provides data and evaluations on more than 1,200 mutual funds.

Real Party in interest, Pilgrim Group, Inc. (Pilgrim), manages…