Intra-Corporate Communications: Sufficient Publication for Defamation or Mere Corporate Babbling

Should courts find that a defamatory communication made between employees of the same corporation does not satisfy the publication requirement of the tort of defamation? The author examines case law on both sides of the publication issue and argues that neither the cases which established the no publication rule nor the theoretical underpinnings of the tort of defamation can support the requirement of publication in cases of intra-corporate communications. The author concludes that the traditional theory, finding a sufficient publication as soon as a third person has understood the communication as defamatory, reconciles the defamed individual\u27s right to sound reputation with society\u27s interest in the free flow of information