Rock star Courtney Love had hired attorney Rhonda Holmes to investigate claims that certain persons had defrauded her and her daughter. She was in frequent contact with the lawyer and had anticipated that a lawsuit against the alleged perpetrators of the fraud was about to be filed when the lawyer suddenly stopped communicating with her. After having no contact with her lawyer for over a year, Love tweeted two wanna-be reporters, “I was [expletive deleted] devastated when Rhonda J. Holmes, Esquire, of San Diego was bought off.”

She thought the tweet was private, but 6 minutes later, when she realized it was public, she deleted it.

Holmes sued her for slander per se. The jury agreed that the tweet was defamatory because people could reasonably interpret it as meaning that Holmes had been bribed, but it found in favor of the defendant because Love is a public figure and there was no evidence that Love knew the statement was false or had serious doubts about its truth. How do you think the Appellate Court ruled on appeal?