Taus v. Loftus

Nicole Taus (plaintiff) consented to being the unnamed subject of a case study presented at seminars and published in a scientific journal by her psychiatrist, David Corwin, on the successful recovery of repressed childhood memories of sexual abuse. Elizabeth Loftus (defendant) was a psychologist who wrote articles attempting to discredit Corwin’s work in this area. After Loftus published articles discussing her findings, Taus sued Loftus and the articles’ publishers (publishers) for various torts, including intrusion into private matters. As part of her research, Loftus had interviewed Taus’s former foster mother, Margie Cantrell. Cantrell alleged that at the beginning of the interview with Loftus, Loftus said she worked with Corwin and was his supervisor on the Taus case study. During the interview, Cantrell revealed deeply personal information to Loftus about Taus, including the sexual abuse Taus allegedly suffered as a child and previously undisclosed information about Taus’s alleged sexual behavior and drug use as an adult. Cantrell said she abruptly ended the interview after the questioning turned hostile, which aroused her suspicions that Loftus had lied to her about working with Corwin. Cantrell added that she would not have consented to the interview had she known Loftus’s true identity and motive. Loftus denied representing that she worked with Corwin or representing that she was his supervisor. Loftus and the publishers filed an anti-SLAPP motion. The trial court largely denied the motion, permitting most of Taus’s claims to proceed. The court of appeal held that most of Taus’s claims should be dismissed under California’s anti-SLAPP statute, but not the intrusion claim. Loftus appealed to the California Supreme Court.