MEMORANDUM OPINION
DABNEY
L. FRIEDRICH UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Laura
Luhn brings this suit against Fox News Network, LLC and its
CEO, Suzanne Gunderson Scott. Compl., Dkt. 1. Luhn's
amended complaint asserts four causes of action against Fox
News and Scott: (1) defamation; (2) defamation by
implication; (3) false light invasion of privacy; and (4)
intentional infliction of emotional distress. Am. Compl.,
Dkt. 15. Before the Court is the defendants' motion to
dismiss the amended complaint for failure to state a claim
under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 12(b)(6). Mot. to
Dismiss, Dkt. 16. For the reasons that follow, the Court will
grant the defendants' motion and dismiss the case.
I.
BACKGROUND [1]
A.
Luhn's History at Fox News
Luhn
began working for Fox News in 1996. Am. Compl. ¶ 31. She
spent the next decade and a half enduring extensive and
traumatic sexual abuse at the hands of Roger Ailes, the
former CEO of Fox News. See Id. ¶ 33. According
to Luhn's complaint, Ailes “demanded, coerced,
extorted, blackmailed and forced sexual favors from
her.” Id. Among other things, Ailes required
Luhn to meet her at various hotel rooms, wearing a sexually
suggestive “uniform, ” where he would force her
to perform various sex acts. See, e.g., id.
¶ 36. Ailes also interfered constantly with Luhn's
personal and professional life, isolating her from friends
and family to increase his own power over her. Id.
¶¶ 48-49, 55-56. Over the course of Luhn's time
at Fox News, Ailes repeatedly informed her, “I own
you.” Id. ¶ 59.
In
2011, Luhn contacted the Office of the United States Attorney
General. Id. ¶ 66. The Attorney General's
staff put her in touch with an Assistant United States
Attorney in her area, to whom she described “in graphic
detail the years of abuse and psychosexual torture that she
endured at the hands of Ailes.” Id. After
speaking to a psychiatrist and consulting an attorney, Luhn
agreed to a settlement with Fox News, although she claims
that she was “pressured, coerced and fraudulently
induced” into doing so. Id. ¶ 72. Years
later, several other women came forward with allegations of
sexual harassment against Ailes, ultimately leading to
Ailes's departure from the company in 2016. Id.
¶ 7. Scott became CEO of Fox News soon thereafter, in
May 2018. Am. Compl., Ex. 1, Dkt. 15.
Luhn
claims to suffer “serious, debilitating and life
threatening trauma, anxiety and other serious health
complications as a result of Ailes's severe psychological
torture and mind control.” Id. ¶ 74. She
has twice attempted suicide, and her current psychological
ailments include PTSD, Stockholm Syndrome, and “bouts
of intermittent anxiety and hopelessness.” Id.
B.
The Los Angeles Times Article
This
lawsuit relates not to the extensive sexual abuse allegations
against Ailes but to the details of a Los Angeles
Times article entitled “Fox News Chief Executive
Suzanne Scott keeps her focus on winning.” That
article, a general profile of Scott published by the
Times on April 3, 2019, describes several of the
challenges that Scott faced upon ascending to the CEO
role-chief among them the “harassment lawsuits and
numerous lurid reports describing alleged bad behavior by
Ailes.” Id. Ex. 1. The article quotes Scott as
saying that she “felt devastated for the women who work
here” and “wanted to do everything [she] could to
heal this place.” Id.
Luhn's
complaint principally concerns a section of the article in
which Scott denies knowledge of Ailes's acts of sexual
harassment. At one point, the article references one-on-one
meetings that Scott held with several Fox News employees to
discuss potential improvements to the corporate environment
for women, and explains that “[i]n some of those
discussions, it was necessary for Scott to tell employees
that she had no knowledge of Ailes'[s] behavior even
though she was part of his inner circle.” Id.
In the next paragraph, the article quotes Scott as saying
that she “had no clue on what was going on in Roger
Ailes'[s] office” and “never had any issues
with any sort of harassment [her]self.” Id.
The article goes on to explain that Scott has since
“eradicated the memory of Ailes by overseeing a massive
renovation of the entire second floor where his corporate
lair was located” and has implemented an internal
process for women to report inappropriate behavior.
Id.
C.
Procedural History
Luhn
filed her initial complaint in this lawsuit on April 23,
2019. Compl. Her amended complaint, filed on August 5, 2019,
names only Fox News and Scott as defendants. Am. Compl. The
amended complaint asserts four causes of action: (1)
defamation; (2) defamation by implication; (3) false light
invasion of privacy; and (4) intentional infliction of
emotional distress. Id. ¶ 77-95. Each of
Luhn's claims concerns Scott's statements to the
Times denying knowledge of Ailes' misconduct,
and each alleges, in essence, that those statements
“created the false and misleading implication that
Plaintiff Luhn is dishonest and fabricated allegations of
sexual abuse against Ailes and fabricated allegations of [a]
cover-up against Defendant Scott.” Id. ¶
85.
Attached
to Luhn's amended complaint are two press releases
published on the website of her attorney, Larry Klayman.
See Am. Compl., Ex. 2, Dkt. 15. The first press
release, published on January 9, 2019, describes Luhn's
lawsuit against Hollywood studios Showtime and Blumhouse
Production for misappropriation of her likeness in a
miniseries entitled “Loudest Voice in the Room”
that depicted Ailes's tenure at Fox News and his
harassment of various female employees. Id. The
second press release was published on April 4, 2019, the day
after the Times article was published. This press
release describes Scott's comments to the Times
as “patently false, ” and explains that
“Scott knew of Ailes' sexual abuse and criminality,
but covered it up and continues to cover it up.”
Id.
Also
attached to Luhn's amended complaint are two affidavits
from Hollywood producers Judah Friedman and Jason Goodman.
Am. Compl., Ex. 3, Dkt. 15. In these affidavits, the
producers attest to having read the Times article
and having “understood the references to sexually
abused and harassed women at Fox News to refer principally to
Laura Luhn.” Id. Each of the producers further
attests, in identical language, that he understood
Scott's statements concerning her lack of knowledge of
Ailes' sexual abuse “to impugn the integrity [of]
and to defame Ms. Luhn, who has reportedly tried to ...