According to the Daily Report, Judge Harvey Bartle of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania ruled that a letter from Merck lawyer Thomas Fitzgibbon sent to the plaintiff – and copied to five others – fell short of the standard for defamation.
Overbilling
The letter was sent by Mr Fitzgibbon to the plaintiff, Leo Gibney, who had asked for an investigation into possible overbilling by a contractor.
Mr Gibney - who was fired by Evolution, a contractor for Merck - believed the move was motivated by his allegations of overbilling, so he wrote to two Merck executives detailing the alleged fraud.
Mr Fitzgibbon then replied – and copied in the two executives, Mr Gibney's former lawyer, another Merck employee, and an unidentified person - that the company saw no need to conduct an audit as had been requested, claiming that Mr Gibney’s allegations were ‘unfounded’.
Investigation
In his decision, Judge Bartle said: ‘Mr Gibney’s dislike of the result of the investigation he caused to take place does not make libellous the communication of the result.’
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