Raghavan v. Boeing Co., 133 Cal. App. 4th 1120 (2005)
Krishnan Raghavan sued Boeing for defamation, among other things, based upon a written reprimand that Raghavan received in which he was accused of (1) failing to disclose all relevant information concerning a business trip he had made to Russia in April 2001 and (2) providing false or misleading information to Boeing executives during a presentation he made to them in May 2001. The Court of Appeal affirmed summary adjudication of the defamation claim in Boeing’s favor on the ground that the statements made about Raghavan in the written reprimand were true. However, the Court reversed the judgment that Boeing received in its favor following a trial on a separate claim for wrongful termination in violation of public policy since the trial judge had erroneously instructed the jury that the facts contained in the written reprimand “had been established” as true. The summary judgment statute provides that “neither a party, nor a witness, nor the court shall comment upon the grant or denial of a motion for summary adjudication to a jury.”