The Dr. Mowlavi malpractice claims were just one of many made by Chalene Johnson on various social media platforms.

The Superior Court of Orange County defined defamation for us and listed several instances where Dr. Mowlavi (plaintiff) had submitted sufficient evidence that numerous alleged defamatory statements were inaccurate, and in doing so, the Court ruled that Dr. Mowlavi had met his burden of demonstrating "the probability of success on the merits."

Excerpts from the Court's Ruling:

Defamation: Defamation is the “intentional publication of a statement of fact that is false, unprivileged, and has a natural tendency to injure or which causes special damage.” (Smith v. Maldonado (1999) 72 Cal.App.4th 637, 645.) “The general rule is that the words constituting an alleged libel must be specifically identified, if not pleaded verbatim, in the complaint.” (Kahn v. Bower (1991) 232 Cal.App.3d 1599, 1612, fn. 5.)

Plaintiffs have submitted sufficient evidence to show that numerous alleged defamatory statement were inaccurate. From August to November 2021, Defendant Johnson posted approximately 100 statements about Plaintiff Dr. Mowlavi. (ROA 32; Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, page 3, lines 16-17). Defendant Johnson had 749,000 followers on her social media site. (Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, paragraph 37).

Defendant posted that Dr. Mowlavi’s patient did died on the operating table. (Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, page 4, lines 16-17). Dr. Mowlavi denied that this occurred. (Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, paragraph 14).

The anesthesiologist used at Defendant Johnson’s surgery did not have two convictions for driving under the influence. (Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, paragraph 20).

Although there had been various filing on medical malpractice against Dr. Mowlavi, there were no judgments. Liability was disputed. (Declaration of Dr. Mowlavi, paragraph 15).