State Supreme Court rules against congressman's mother in dog-kennel defamation case
The Missouri Supreme Court ruled the operator of a dog kennel cannot sue advocacy groups after they said she ran one of the "worst puppy mills" in the state.
The court Tuesday unanimously upheld a Dent County circuit court decision that dismissed a defamation lawsuit filed by Mary Ann Smith of Salem, Missouri.
Smith is the mother of 8th District U.S. Rep. Jason Smith.
In the decision written by Chief Justice Patricia Breckenridge, the Supreme Court dismissed Mary Ann Smith's defamation claims because her petition did not allege any actionable statements.
"Because these statements were subjective assessments not provable as false and did not imply any objective facts provable as false, these statements are not actionable as defamation as a matter of law," the chief justice wrote.
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