You Can’t Say That: Slander allegations made by an ex-employee of Amerisave
Mortgage Corp. will be heard in court after all, following a decision by the
Supreme Court of Georgia that overturns a lower court’s ruling to dismiss the
lawsuit. The case stems from allegations made by Stephen Scouten that Amerisave
and its business associates allegedly “defamed him by disseminating false
information” to employees that he was terminated for theft, according to court
transcripts and published reports.
Scouten’s allegations were contained in a lawsuit that had been dismissed by
a lower Georgia court. An appeals court subsequently also upheld the lower
court’s dismissal. But Supreme Court justices ruled in February that “construing
these allegations most favorably to Scouten, it is possible that he could
introduce evidence within the framework of the complaint establishing that
defamatory statements were disseminated to Amerisave employees who had no duty
or authority giving them reason to receive the information.”
Also, the justices unanimously wrote: “Accordingly, the complaint
sufficiently states a claim for relief based on defamation, including the
required element of publication, and it was [an] error to dismiss this claim.”
Amerisave is not commenting publicly on the matter.
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