4.1.3 Public Policy Qualified Privilege

• Jurisdiction: Arizona

The public policy qualified privilege represents perhaps the best example of one Wagenseller factor overriding all the rest as a matter of law. Where the Courts feel that the conduct complained of is sufficiently worthy of protection, they will assign it to one privilege or another and, where the conduct does not fall within any of the previously identified and recognized privileges, the Courts will classify them generally as public policy privileges.

The Court applied this[fn284] privilege in Miller v. Servicemaster byRees,[fn285] where a claim for defamation and interference with employment contract was brought against an employee who had previously made allegations of sexual harassment against the plaintiff. In recognizing the existence the privilege, the Court...