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0496 Used as a heading for an investment newsletter column in which defendant criticized plaintiff's manipulation of statistics in its advertising, the phrase "Lies, Damn Lies, and Fund Advertisements" is clearly a play on words borrowed from a recognizable quote, and is the kind of loose, figurative, lusty, and hyperbolic phrase that is not likely to be understood as anything but an expression of opinion, and therefore cannot be the basis of liability for defamation or interference with business advantage.
MORNINGSTAR v SUPERIOR COURT (Damn Lies) 23 CA4 676 [See: Patrick v SuperCt 22 CA4 814, T/AT 3/94; Greenbelt v Bresler 398 US 6; Hustler v Falwell 485 US 46; Milkovich v Lorain 497 US 1; CivC 45]
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