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Raghavan v. Boeing Co.10/31/2005
d faith or malicious purpose." (Smith v. Maldonado, supra, 72 Cal.App.4th at p. 646.) " he defendant need not justify the literal truth of every word of the allegedly defamatory matter. It is sufficient if the substance of the charge is proven true, irrespective of slight inaccuracy in the details, `so long as the imputation is substantially true so as to justify the "gist or sting" of the remark.'" (Ringler Associates Inc. v. Maryland Casualty Co. (2000) 80 Cal.App.4th 1165, 1180-1181, some italics added.)
Raghavan's defamation's cause of action is based solely on the written reprimand, which accused Raghavan of "engag in misrepresentative behavior towards a number of Senior Management personnel." "Misrepresent" means "to give a false, imperfect, or misleading representation." (Webster's 3d New Internat. Dict. (1981) p. 1445, col. 1.)
The reprimand consisted of two specific charges: (1) Raghavan failed to disclose all relevant information concerning his April 2001 trip to Russia, and (2) he provided false, or misleading, information during his May 29, 2001 presentation to BSS executives. In their respondents' brief, defendants focus on the charge that Raghavan provided false, or misleading, information at the May 29, 2001 meeting.
In connection with the presentation of Raghavan's satellite project, Maehl had instructed Raghavan to explain the aircraft deal and industrial offsets as part of the history of the project. As Raghavan already knew, BCAG's aircraft negotiations and the offsets were on hold. In mid-April 2001, Zinn told Raghavan to stop all work on the offsets. Raghavan so testified at his deposition. Raghavan also acknowledged Zinn's instruction in a June 14, 2001 memo to himself, stating: "During mid-April, Don Zinn asked me to stop exploring the industrial offset possibility; accordingly, I stopped work on that & concentrated on the satellite sales, purely as a business case for BSS." (Italics added.)
Yet, Raghavan's May 29, 2001 written proposal discussed the aircraft deal and the offsets as if they were still under active consideration, as follows: "Boeing Very Interested in a Potential Sale of 40 Commercial Jets ($4 Billion) to Russia," and Russia "is insisting on about 120% `industrial offset' . . . ." The proposal stated that Raghavan's satellite project "could eliminate shortfall in the required offset amount," and there should be a "Closure on Offset Criteria for Aircraft Contract" as well as a "Determination of Offset Criteria." The proposal also stated, "Russian Ventures being evaluated both as stand-alone satellite sales and as tie-in to BCAG efforts [to sell aircraft]." Finally, the proposal recommended that in June 2001 (the month following the presentation), Boeing discuss offset criteria with the Russians; in July 2001, discussions should be held with "BCAG regarding synergy opportunities given market data and offset criteria"; and on August 1, 2001, a decision should be made "whether to allocate initial campaign funds for coordinated BCAG/BSS Russian Campaign."
Thus, Raghavan's presentation went far beyond discussing the offsets as part of the history of the satellite project. Instead, Raghavan emphasized the importance of his satellite project in obtaining offsets on the aircraft deal - a deal that was, in Zinn's words, "falling apart." And Raghavan's proposal repeatedly described the offsets as an important part of both projects - his (BSS's) satellite project and BCAG's aircraft deal. In short, Raghavan's proposal did not contain even a hint that the aircraft sale and the offsets were on hold. By pitching his project in such a way, Raghavan provided false, or misleading, information to BSS executives.
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