Funk and Team's Defamation Action Win Featured in Colorado Law Week

Colorado Law Week features Judge's endorsement of Perkins' argument that lawyer who filed class action suits against client Westwood Colleges and made arguably defamatory statements about Westwood cannot rely on the litigation privilege: "[T]he [litigation] privilege does not extend to remarks lawyers make on the courthouse steps, or anywhere else outside the court proceeding, said Markus Funk, a Perkins Coie partner who has consulted on the case. “Simply because you are an attorney who filed a lawsuit does not convey to you carte blanche permission to exit the courthouse and utter defamatory statements about the defendant,” Funk said. “The lesson is that, although the law renders statements made in the context of litigation non-actionable, counsel who exceed the boundaries of what constitute  ‘litiga­tion’ do so at their own peril.”