UJI 13-1007. Defamatory communication: Defined.

To support a claim for defamation, a communication must be defamatory. Defamatory communications are those which tend to expose a person to contempt, to harm the person’s reputation, or to discourage others from associating or dealing with that person. In deciding whether the communication was defamatory, you must consider its plain and obvious meaning. [In determining whether the communication was defamatory, you may consider whether there are other facts in evidence known to the person to whom the communication was published which, when taken into consideration with the communication, gave it a defamatory meaning.]