S-23-0893 Mark D. Elbert (Appellant) v. Keating, O’Gara, Nedved & Peter, P.C., L.L.O. (Appellee)
Appeal from the District Court for Sarpy County, Judge Michael A. Smith
Attorneys: Theodore R. Boecker, Jr. (Boecker Law, P.C., L.L.O. for Appellant) and Andre R. Barry, Nathan D. Clark, and Nathan T. Heimes (Cline Williams Wright Johnson & Oldfather, L.L.P. for Appellee)
Civil: Defamation and False Light Claims
Proceedings below: Appellant filed a defamation and false light claim against Appellee, and the district court granted Appellee’s motion to dismiss. On its own motion, the Supreme Court ordered this case to be transferred from the docket of the Court of Appeals to its docket.
Issues: Appellant makes the following assignments of error: 1) The district court erred in sustaining the motion to dismiss; 2) The district court erred in finding that the law firm could only be liable for an employee engaging in the practice of law and that if an employee was engaged in the practice of law the statements were absolutely privileged; 3) The district court erred in ignoring the law firm’s judicial admission that it made statements at the press conference which were the subject of the amended complaint; 4) The district court erred in considering evidence outside the four corners of the complaint and the law firm’s judicial admission; and 5) The district court erred in concluding that all false light claims were subsumed within the defamation claims at the state of a motion to dismiss.