2023 IL App (1st) 211526 No. 1-21-1526 Opinion filed: May 8, 2023

First Division ____________________________________________________________________________

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ____________________________________________________________________________

MAURO GLORIOSO, ) Appeal from the Circuit Court of ) Cook County, Illinois Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) No. 2021 L 000090 v. ) ) The Honorable SUN-TIMES MEDIA HOLDINGS, LLC, and ) Patricia O’Brien Sheahan, TIM NOVAK, ) Judge Presiding. ) Defendants-Appellants. )

JUSTICE PUCINSKI delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Hyman and Coghlan concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 Plaintiff-appellee Mauro Glorioso filed a complaint alleging defamation per quod, defamation per se, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress arising from two sets of articles published in print and online in the Chicago Sun-Times and written by Tim Novak. Defendants-appellants Sun-Times Media Holdings, LLC, and Tim Novak (collectively “Sun-Times”) filed what are essentially three pretrial motions: (1) a March 5, 2021, motion to dismiss pursuant to section 2-619.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure 735 ILCS 5/2-619.1 and a July 28, 2021, combined motion to (2) reconsider the denial of their section 2-619.1 motion 1-21-1526 to dismiss, or (3) in the alternative, to dismiss pursuant to the Citizen Participation Act (Act) (735 ILCS 110/1 et seq. (West 2020)). ¶2 At issue in the (1) motion to dismiss and the (2) reconsideration argument of the subsequent combined motion are Glorioso’s claims of defamation per quod, defamation per se, false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. ¶3 At issue in the (3) alternative motion to dismiss pursuant to the Act is whether Glorioso’s defamation suit is an impermissible retaliatory “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” or “SLAPP” as defined by the Act. ¶4 The circuit court dismissed Glorioso’s claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress but denied all remaining portions of the Sun-Times’s motions. ¶5 For the reasons that follow, we affirm the circuit court’s May 25, 2021, denial of (1) the motion to dismiss as to the defamation per quod, defamation per se, and false light invasion of privacy and agree with the court that these issues have met the requirements to survive the pleading stage. We remand those issues to the circuit court with no prediction or comment on the outcome. ¶6 For the reasons that follow, we also affirm the circuit court’s October 29, 2021, order denying (2) the motion to reconsider or (3), in the alternative, to dismiss the lawsuit under the Act and find that the underlying suit is not a SLAPP. ¶7 I. BACKGROUND ¶8 The underlying matter arises from a January 5, 2021, defamation suit filed by Glorioso against the Sun-Times, alleging counts of defamation per quod, defamation per se¸ false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress over two articles published by the Chicago Sun-Times on their website and print newspaper on February 7, 2020; February 9, 2020; October 9, 2020; and October 11, 2020. The articles reported on an investigation by the

211527

1-21-1526

Illinois Office of Executive Inspector General (OEIG) into the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board

(PTAB or Board) and its handling of the 2011 property tax appeal of the Trump International Hotel and Tower (Trump Tower) in Cook County, Illinois. On November 13, 2019, an anonymous whistleblower filed a complaint with the OEIG (OEIG Complaint), naming several individuals at

PTAB and alleging that the Trump Tower tax assessment was severely reduced for politically motivated reasons.

¶9 A. The OEIG Complaint

¶ 10 The November 13, 2019, OEIG Complaint lists five individuals against whom the complaint was brought: Steven Waggoner, Mauro Glorioso, Katherine Patti, Simeon Nockov, and Jennifer Vesely. At the time of the activities alleged in the OEIG Complaint, Waggoner was the acting executive director of PTAB and its chief administrative law judge (ALJ). Glorioso was the chairman of PTAB and became the executive director of PTAB on March 27, 2019. The executive director oversees the day-to-day operations of PTAB, including its ALJs, and may review appeals and recommend decisions. Patti, Nockov, and Vesely were PTAB ALJs. ALJs conduct hearings and prepare written decisions on property tax assessment appeals, but PTAB makes the final determination based on a majority vote of its members.

¶ 11 According to the OEIG Complaint, ALJs Patti, Nockov, and Vesely worked together

handling the Trump Tower property tax appeal between 2017 and 2018. Nockov, with the help of Patti and Vesely, wrote a decision finding that the property did not warrant a property tax reduction. On January 31, 2018, he entered the decision into PTAB’s database, which meant that the decision was ready for presentation to the appointed members of the Board for approval.

¶ 12 The OEIG complaint alleges that Nockov told various PTAB employees that shortly after he entered his decision on the Trump Tower appeal, Glorioso told Waggoner that he wanted a

211528

1-21-1526

large reduction in the assessment of Trump Tower because the owner of the property was the president of the United States. Waggoner then allegedly told Nockov to withdraw his decision and rewrite it to grant a large assessment reduction because the president was the owner and to “Make

America Great Again.” 1 Nockov withdrew his decision and, again with the assistance of Patti and Vesely, rewrote the decision so that it granted a reduction in the property tax assessment. Nockov

entered the new decision into PTAB’s database on June 29, 2018. However, according to the complaint, Waggoner had the decision withdrawn later the same day. Waggoner then allegedly took over handling the appeal himself, entering a third draft of the decision into the PTAB database on April 29, 2019, now granting a reduction of several million dollars on the Trump Tower property tax assessment, which was allegedly more in line with what Glorioso sought from

Waggoner. However, Nockov allegedly confirmed that Glorioso had Waggoner pull this draft as well because he felt it was not the right time to publish the decision; the decision was pulled from

the database on May 7, 2019. The OEIG Complaint concludes by stating that, as of the time of filing the complaint, no written decision on the Trump Tower property tax assessment had been issued.

¶ 13 The allegations specific to Glorioso accuse him of telling Chief ALJ Waggoner that he wanted a large reduction in the Trump Tower assessment because the owner was the president;

Waggoner describing Glorioso’s justification as the owner being the president and to “Make

America Great Again”; Waggoner finding that the large reduction Glorioso sought was warranted; and Glorioso deciding to pull the decision granting the reduction because he felt the timing was not right.

It is unclear from the OEIG Complaint whether the “he” who wanted the reduction because it 1 was for the president and “to Make America Great Again” refers to Waggoner or Glorioso.

211529

1-21-1526

¶ 14 The Sun-Times learned of the OEIG Complaint when an anonymous source delivered a

copy of the complaint to Sun-Times investigative reporter Tim Novak on or around December 23, 2019. Novak served PTAB with a request, pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (5

ILCS 140/1 et seq. (West 2018)), to obtain all communications between PTAB and OEIG relating to the 2011 Trump Tower property tax appeal; the request was denied on January 21, 2020.

Glorioso was named in the response from PTAB as one of the individuals who determined that the documents requested were exempt from FOIA; he was identified as the PTAB executive director and general counsel.

¶ 15 B. The OEIG Investigation

¶ 16 OEIG opened an investigation based on the allegations of the OEIG Complaint in 2019, captioned In re: Mauro Glorioso, Case No. 19-02400. While he was unable to receive confirmation of the investigation from his FOIA request, Novak received an e-mail statement from Emily

Bittner, the communications director for the governor of Illinois, which stated:

“The administration is determined to get to the bottom of what happened in this situation, and will ensure that a thorough investigation is conducted. PTAB should take no action until an investigation is complete. In general, it would be entirely inappropriate for a legal decision on a property tax appeal to be impacted by any of the conduct alleged in this complaint, including the allegations of political motivations improperly driving the decision making.”

¶ 17 The Executive Ethics Commission of the State of Illinois published a redacted version of the OEIG final report in In re: Mauro Glorioso (OEIG Final Report) on September 23, 2021. The OEIG final report confirmed that Glorioso had been under investigation, but redacted all information relating to the OEIG Complaint on the basis that OEIG found the allegations to be

211530

1-21-1526 unfounded. However, it also included information about a second complaint, received on October

15, 2020, which alleged that on October 5, 2020, Glorioso improperly deleted all of his e-mails relating to the 2011 Trump Tower property tax appeal, as well as additional related files on his

PTAB computer and from office-wide computer systems. OEIG found that Glorioso had been

notified through various means in February of 2020 about a document hold requiring him to retain all documents and electronically stored information relating to the 2011 Trump Tower appeal until instructed that the document hold was over.

¶ 18 Based on the investigation, OEIG Final Report found that Glorioso violated PTAB policy, directives, and state law relating to the maintenance of records by deleting PTAB files and e-mails.

Glorioso was terminated from his position on September 23, 2020. On October 5, 2020, PTAB announced internally that Glorioso would leave the agency on October 23, 2020. However, due to the aforementioned misconduct, that date was moved up to October 14, 2020. As Glorioso was no longer employed by the State, OEIG recommended that a copy of its report be placed in his employment file and that he not be rehired by the State.

¶ 19 On June 8, 2021, PTAB issued a unanimous Final Administrative Decision on the 2011

Trump Tower appeal, finding that a reduction of $2,167,996 in the valuation of the property was warranted.

¶ 20 C. The Sun-Times’s Reporting on Glorioso

¶ 21 On February 7, 2020, the Chicago Sun-Times published on its website an article written by

Novak, titled “President’s Chicago Tax Appeal on Trump Tower Is Under Investigation,” with the subheading of “State inspector general, Pritzker administration are looking into allegation a

Republican state agency head pressured staff to slash by $1M the $2.5M in property taxes Donald

Trump paid in 2012.” Tim Novak, President’s Chicago Tax Appeal on Trump Tower Is Under

211531

1-21-1526

Investigation, Chicago Sun-Times (Feb. 7, 2020), https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/2/7/

21126855/donald-trump-tower-chicago-property-tax-appeal-investigation [https://perma.cc/

5VEN-YCLQ]. The article states that OEIG was investigating Glorioso based on an anonymous complaint that Glorioso pressured his staff to rule in Trump’s favor on his 2012 Trump Tower tax appeal, rejecting his staff’s decision to deny Trump any refund. Id. It describes Glorioso as a

“Republican attorney from Westchester.” Id. The article further states that the Sun-Times filed a

public records request with PTAB for “correspondence among the inspector general, Glorioso, chief PTAB administrative law judge Steven Waggoner and hearing officer Simeon Nockov.” Id.

The article also quotes Bittner’s statement to Novak, as well as stating that PTAB rejected the Sun-

Times’ FOIA request and Glorioso and Waggoner declined to comment. Id. It also states that OEIG would not confirm whether it had received a complaint regarding Glorioso and Trump’s appeal and that Governor Pritzker’s staff would not confirm that a complaint had been filed “against

Glorioso and four members of Glorioso’s staff.” On February 9, 2020, the Sun-Times republished the article in its print edition.

¶ 22 On October 9, 2020, the Chicago Sun-Times published on its website another article by

Novak regarding Glorioso, this one titled “Pritzker Dumps Official Who Pushed for Trump to Get

$1 Million Refund on Chicago Tower’s Taxes.” Tim Novak, Pritzker Dumps Official Who Pushed for Trump to Get $1 Million Refund on Chicago Tower’s Taxes, Chicago Sun-Times (Oct. 9, 2020) https://chicago.suntimes.com/2020/10/9/21509933/trump-tower-chicago-property-tax-dispute-

pritzker-mauro-glorioso-illinois-property-tax-appeal-board [https://perma.cc/MSV5-UZ3M]. The subheading reads, “Mauro Glorioso, a Westchester Republican the governor appointed to head the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board, is under a state investigation over his Trump Tower recommendation.” Id. The article states that Glorioso was under investigation for “trying to force

211532

1-21-1526 a state agency to give President Donald J. Trump a refund of more than $1 million on the property taxes he paid on his Chicago skyscraper.” The article further states that the investigation was based on an anonymous complaint claiming that Glorioso “ordered the agency to approve the $1 million payout for Trump, rejecting a staff report that found no valid reason to support the refund.” Id.

Another quote from the article claims that “[a]ny tax refund for Trump would come out of property taxes to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies, the Chicago Public Schools losing the biggest chunk of money: more than $540,000 if the president gets what Glorioso wants.”

Id. The article also describes Glorioso and his actions as follows: “The 64-year-old Westchester resident and staunch Republican rejected a report from hearing officer Simeon Nockov, who found that Trump didn’t merit a refund ***.” Id. The article also notes that Waggoner had found Trump

to be entitled to a refund because the Trump Tower property had been over-assessed in 2011 and recommended a reduced valuation of the property, which would result in a reduction in property taxes from $2.5 million to $1,031,350. The Sun-Times republished the article in its print edition on October 11, 2020.

¶ 23 D. The Defamation Suit

¶ 24 Glorioso filed his defamation suit against the Sun-Times and Novak on January 5, 2021, alleging, across nine counts, defamation per quod, defamation per se¸ false light invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress against both parties. The two counts of defamation per quod relate specifically to the February 7 and 9 articles, while the two counts of defamation per se relate specifically to the October 9 and 11 articles. The remaining causes of action relate to all of the articles.

¶ 25 Regarding the defamation per quod counts, Glorioso claims that Novak, having received a copy of the OEIG Complaint, wrote the February 7, 2020, article, knowing that it was materially

211533

1-21-1526

false, specifically because the complaint did not state that Glorioso “pressured his staff to cut the president a break”; “pressured his staff to rule in the president’s favor” or “reject *** the [PTAB] staff’s [and hearing officer’s] decision to deny Trump any refund”; or directed that the adjudication of the Trump Tower property tax appeal be driven by political motivations, rather than the merits of the case. Glorioso also claims that Novak knew that in 2018, when he allegedly told Waggoner that he wanted the president to be awarded a refund, Glorioso had not yet been appointed executive director and general counsel of PTAB, and, as then-chairman of the PTAB Board, he had no direct authority over PTAB hearing officers. Glorioso further claims that Novak knowingly and falsely depicted Glorioso as

“(i) taking wrongful action and using his authority solely for political purposes, unrelated to the merits of the Trump Tower real estate tax appeal; (ii) preventing a hearing officer’s

decision from becoming finalized and published pursuant to those unethical motives; and (iii) demanding a politically-based result in the PTAB appeal, unrelated to the merits of the case.”

Glorioso further alleged that Novak knowingly and falsely depicted him as a corrupt political official, lacking integrity in his profession. He denies having directed that the initial decision submitted by ALJ Nockov on January 31, 2018, be rejected or that a finding in favor of Trump

Tower and refunding more than $1 million be substituted in its place. Glorioso claims that, as a

result of the publication of these false statements, he suffered special damages in the form of the loss of his employment as executive director and general counsel of PTAB—and the salary and benefits that came with the position—as well as damage to his reputation, humiliation, anxiety, and other mental distress.

211534

1-21-1526

¶ 26 Regarding the October 2020 articles, Glorioso alleges that they constitute defamation per se because the statements contained in the online article and its reprint were published with actual malice and portray Glorioso as lacking integrity in his profession. He cites specifically to the articles’ stating that he “pushed for” and “tried to force a state agency to give” then-President

Trump a $1 million refund on the Trump Tower property tax and that he was under state investigation for his Trump Tower recommendation, both of which Glorioso denies in his complaint. He further claims that the articles falsely characterize the OEIG Complaint as having alleged that Glorioso ordered PTAB to “approve the $1 million payout for Trump, rejecting a staff report that found no valid reason to support the refund on the tax bill for the Trump International

Hotel and Tower’s hotel and commercial space” and that the Sun-Times and Novak knew that the complaint did not make such allegations. He repeats the claims from counts I and II that the defendants were aware that Glorioso did not have the authority to direct any result in the Trump

Tower appeal at the time of the alleged conduct and that the defendants distorted the contents of the OEIG Complaint in order to falsely depict Glorioso as having directed a result in a property tax appeal “solely for corrupt and political purposes, unrelated to the merit of the case.” He similarly contends that the defendants used his anticipated termination and statements that he was a “staunch Republican” to distort the actions alleged in the OEIG Complaint as having been politically motivated and corrupt. Additionally, Glorioso claims that the articles’ false statements that the money Glorioso wanted to save then-President Trump “would come out of property taxes

to the city of Chicago and eight other government agencies, the Chicago Public Schools losing the biggest chunk of the money” implied that his actions jeopardized much-needed funding for Chicago’s public schools.

- 10 - 1-21-1526 ¶ 27 Glorioso next alleges four counts of false light invasion of privacy, for both online articles and their reprints, on the basis that they falsely accused him of conduct showing a lack of integrity as executive director and general counsel of PTAB, which publicly depicted him in a false light. Finally, he alleges a count of intentional infliction of emotional distress, claiming that the statements the defendants published about him were extreme and outrageous, that defendants knew there was a high probability of him suffering extreme emotional distress over their publication, and that he did in fact suffer such distress. ¶ 28 E. Sun-Times’s Pretrial Motions ¶ 29 1. March 5, 2021, Motion to Dismiss ¶ 30 On March 5, 2021, the Sun-Times moved to dismiss Glorioso’s complaint pursuant to section 2-619.1 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-619.1 (West 2020)), arguing that the statements contained in the articles were substantially true, as to both the factual assertions and figurative or conditional language describing the gist of the investigation against Glorioso. The Sun-Times further argued that Glorioso, as a public official, failed to plead actual malice with clear and convincing evidence of the defendants’ deliberate or reckless disregard of the truth, or that the Sun-Times’s reporting on a public official was highly offensive, extreme, and outrageous conduct. With respect to the claims of defamation per quod and related derivative counts, they argued that Glorioso had failed to make a prima facie showing of pecuniary special damages because there was no causal connection between Glorioso’s firing and the Sun-Times’s reporting on an investigation of which the governor was already aware. The Sun-Times further argued that the counts relating to defamation per se should be dismissed because the Sun-Times’s reporting was conditioned on the outcome of an official investigation, which subjected it to the innocent construction rule. As to the derivative counts of false light invasion of property and intentional - 11 - 1-21-1526 infliction of emotional distress, the Sun-Times argued that they failed because the defamation claims failed. ¶ 31 Additionally, the Sun-Times attached a declaration from Timothy Novak (Novak Declaration), the OEIG Complaint, the Bittner statement, and several e-mails. The e-mails, which the Sun-Times received from Novak’s FOIA request, include a February 8, 2020, message from Glorioso to PTAB where he referred to the OEIG Complaint as containing allegations that he had sought a desired result in the Trump Tower appeal based on political bias. They also include e- mails between, variously, Glorioso, Waggoner, Nockov, and others regarding the 2012 Trump Tower appeal. Among those e-mails, the exchanges include: Waggoner telling Nockov on June 29, 2018, to wait on submitting his decision for review until Waggoner checked with Glorioso how he wanted it to proceed; Glorioso telling Waggoner on November 12, 2019, that he had reviewed the Trump Tower decision and agreed with the determination of value; and an e-mail from Glorioso to himself on February 8, 2020, listing ideas for a “letter of support for staff by board of directors” that included a denial of him having directed a particular result in the Trump Tower appeal and of having political bias, assurances that the decision was decided on the merits, and the allegations in the OEIG complaint that Glorioso sought a desired result based on political bias lacked merit. ¶ 32 The Novak Declaration states that he received a copy of the OEIG complaint and read that it accused Glorioso of telling Waggoner that he wanted a large reduction in the 2011 Trump Tower assessment because the owner was the president, that Glorioso perpetrated acts of prohibited political activities and conflicts of interest, that the reduction was for political reasons, and that Glorioso participated in the scheme. Novak further wrote that he submitted a FOIA request to PTAB and sought comment from PTAB, OEIG, the Office of the Governor, and Glorioso before - 12 - 1-21-1526 reporting on the complaint, including the complaint’s request for an investigation. He received only the Bittner statement, which came from the governor’s office. PTAB also issued an official statement prior to the publication of the Sun-Times articles, which Novak quoted in the October articles. The statement said that PTAB would continue the Trump Tower appeal until OEIG had completed its investigation, and PTAB would not discuss the merits until such time. Novak also noted that he reported in October that there was a potential explanation for PTAB staff replacing Nockov’s original decision that was not politically motivated—that Waggoner based his recommendation of a reduced assessment on vacant storefronts on the property and the fact that interested agencies failed to object to the appeal. Novak further wrote that while he was writing the articles, he did not receive any information that contradicted any of his reporting or that would otherwise inform him that any factual statement he wrote was not true. Additionally, he stated that the contents of e-mails and other documents he received from a second FOIA request to PTAB after the publication of the articles were consistent with everything he had reported on the OEIG Complaint and investigation. ¶ 33 The exhibits were submitted to support the Sun-Times’s argument that Glorioso’s complaint should be dismissed pursuant to section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/2-619 (West 2020)) because the articles gave a fair summation of information obtained from governmental and public proceedings on a matter of public interest, namely the OEIG Complaint and investigation. The Sun-Times further argued that the exhibits negate actual malice because the OEIG complaint that Novak based his reporting on did accuse Glorioso of prohibited politically motivated activities, as described in the articles, and the governor’s office confirmed that there was an investigation into those accusations. - 13 - 1-21-1526 ¶ 34 The circuit court granted in part and denied in part the motion to dismiss on May 25, 2021. The only count that was dismissed was the claim of intentional infliction of emotional distress, as the court agreed with the Sun-Times that Glorioso had failed to allege specific facts to support his claim. ¶ 35 As to the defamation per quod counts, the circuit court found that a reasonable jury could find that the statements from the February 2020 articles that Glorioso took issue with in his complaint were not substantially true because the jury could find that the Sun-Times exaggerated the scope of the investigation and the degree of Glorioso’s authority over PTAB’s deliberative process, thus presenting the “gist” or “sting” of the OEIG Complaint’s accusations against Glorioso, specifically, worse than they actually were. The circuit court also noted that the Sun- Times presented the reporting not as opinion pieces, but as news. In particular, the court identified three statements published in the Sun-Times that Glorioso claimed to be false and defamatory: (1) that he was under investigation for pressuring his staff to give the president a break and rule in his favor in his property tax appeal, (2) that he rejected the ALJ’s original decision to not award any refund, and (3) that he directed that a legal decision in the Trump Tower appeal be driven by political motivations, rather than the merits of the case. ¶ 36 The circuit court noted that Bittner’s statement on behalf of the governor, that his office “will ensure that a thorough investigation” is conducted, did not confirm that Glorioso in particular was being investigated, or the scope and subject of any investigation into the allegations in the OEIG Complaint. The court took issue with what it deemed to be misleading statements in the articles that exaggerated Glorioso’s alleged involvement in the purported scheme to reduce the then-president’s property taxes because the actual OEIG Complaint merely stated that Glorioso supposedly told Waggoner he wanted a large reduction in the assessment because the owner was - 14 - 1-21-1526 the president, and that Nockov confirmed that Waggoner found the property to warrant a large, multi-million assessment reduction, “consistent with Glorioso’s directive.” The complaint did not accuse Glorioso of having been in charge of writing or revising a decision on the appeal, of instructing or pressuring any PTAB employees to rewrite the initial decision, or of having any administrative authority over PTAB employees, all of which were actually attributed to Waggoner. Ultimately, the court denied the Sun-Times’s motion to dismiss the counts of defamation per quod on the grounds of substantial truth because it found that the ordinary reader could interpret the February 2020 articles as making factual assertions that Glorioso was specifically being investigated for abusing his authority over PTAB staff, and a reasonable jury could find that this was not an accurate reflection of the allegations in the OEIG Complaint. ¶ 37 As for the defamation per se counts, the circuit court similarly determined that a reasonable jury could find that the October 2020 articles’ statements that Glorioso was “under investigation over his Trump Tower recommendation” and “trying to force [PTAB] to give President Donald J. Trump a refund of more than $1 million” and that he had “exerted pressure to force” and “ordered” PTAB to give a refund of more than $1 million, rejecting a staff report that found no valid reason to do so, were not substantially true because they exaggerated Glorioso’s alleged involvement in the scheme. The court determined that it was clear that the defendants’ published statements about the investigation were not consistent with the “gist” or “sting” of the allegations. The court further found that an ordinary reader could reasonably interpret the October 2020 articles as a matter of fact and infer that Glorioso was to blame for the outcome of the Trump Tower appeal, including the resulting loss of money for various government agencies, in particular Chicago Public Schools, even though, as Novak even reported, none of these government agencies challenged the appeal. - 15 - 1-21-1526 ¶ 38 Regarding the Sun-Times’s argument that Glorioso failed to sufficiently plead special damages because he did not allege that the governor read the Sun-Times articles before deciding to fire him, the circuit court stated that such pleading was not required, and Glorioso did not need to prove that the articles were the cause of his termination from PTAB at the pleading stage. Having determined that the articles exaggerated the allegations against Glorioso, the circuit court also rejected the argument that the investigation itself, rather than the Sun-Times’s reporting on it, was an intervening cause of Glorioso’s firing. ¶ 39 Finally, the circuit court addressed the Sun-Times’s argument, pursuant to section 2-619 and the supporting Novak declaration, OEIG complaint, and PTAB e-mails. The court rejected the Sun-Times’s attempt to apply the fair report privilege because it did not apply to statements that conveyed an erroneous impression to the ordinary reader of the allegations against and investigation into Glorioso. The court further rejected the Sun-Times’s argument, pursuant to section 2-619, that the entire complaint should be dismissed because Glorioso failed to plead any facts supporting the defendants’ actual malice because his pleading that the defendants knew the statements they published were false or, alternatively, published them with reckless disregard as to whether they were true or false was sufficient to survive the pleading stage, particularly since the Sun-Times had failed to convince the court that the fair report privilege or substantial truth defense applied. ¶ 40 2. July 28, 2021, Motion to Reconsider ¶ 41 On July 28, 2021, the Sun-Times filed a combined motion, part of which contained an argument for reconsideration of the court’s denial of Sun-Times’s earlier motion to dismiss based on misapplications of the relevant law. The Sun-Times contended that its reporting was substantially true, conveying the underlying gist or sting of the contents of the OEIG complaint - 16 - 1-21-1526 and the resulting investigation, and the Sun-Times did not need to report with perfect accuracy and exact detail in order to properly argue true and fair reporting as a defense. The Sun-Times argued that the statements made regarding the investigation and OEIG complaint accurately characterized the allegations against Glorioso, based on specific quotes from the OEIG Complaint—namely, that Glorioso personally gave a “directive” to Waggoner to award a reduction for “political reasons” that constituted “prohibited unethical political activities and conflicts of interest” and that PTAB staff rewrote Nockov’s original decision “consistent with Glorioso’s directive.” The Sun-Times contended that the circuit court took the fact that Glorioso, by necessity of how PTAB functions, needed to direct other PTAB employees to write and enter the opinion granting the reduction as evidence that Glorioso personally was not as involved in the alleged scheme, as Novak’s reporting suggested. ¶ 42 The Sun-Times further noted that it used statements of conjecture—that there was an investigation into whether the allegations in the OEIG Complaint were true—and subjective terms such as “pushed” and “pressured” to describe the actions attributed to Glorioso. Because of its argument that its reporting was fair and substantially true, the Sun-Times contended that Glorioso could not claim actual malice. ¶ 43 Additionally, the Sun-Times asserted that Glorioso could not argue special damages because the decision to terminate his employment, as well as PTAB’s announcement that he would be leaving the agency, occurred prior to the Sun-Times publishing any reporting on the OEIG complaint and the investigation. The Sun-Times further argued that the innocent construction rule protected even defamatory statements in the articles because (a) reporting on a pending investigation into whether any misconduct had occurred did not amount to stating that Glorioso actually did everything attributed to him in the OEIG complaint, (b) the articles offer alternative - 17 - 1-21-1526 explanations for the tax reduction, that no agencies objected to the appeal and vacant rental spaces on the property, and (c) statements that Glorioso might have acted with politically biased motivations did not accuse him of lacking qualifications or competency as executive director and general counsel of PTAB. ¶ 44 The circuit court denied the motion to reconsider on October 29, 2021, reaffirming its reasoning from the denial of the Sun-Times’s previous motion to dismiss. In reaffirming that reasoning, the court identified that the Sun-Times’s underlying reasoning for its arguments that the articles were substantially true, subject to an innocent construction, and privileged as fair reports and that the court identified that Glorioso failed to plead special damages with particularity was that Glorioso could not show falsity because the record showed that he was in fact under investigation. Addressing the inclusion of the OEIG final report, the circuit court stated that Glorioso was not alleging that he had not been under investigation over the Trump Tower appeal and evidence confirming that he had been was not relevant to the Sun-Times’s defenses. Rather, the court characterized Glorioso’s concern with the articles as pertaining to the implication that could be drawn from them—that he had specifically been the architect of the scheme or the primary target of the investigation. To that end, the circuit court again found that a reasonable jury could find that the gist of the articles was not substantially true and that the articles could not be subject to an innocent construction because the Sun-Times overstated Glorioso’s involvement in and authority over PTAB’s deliberative process, pointing to the articles’ singling out of Glorioso by name, publishing his photo with the reporting, discussing his background and career history, and implying he was fired for his involvement in the scheme. By contrast, the court continued, the articles refer to others named in the OEIG complaint as “four members of Glorioso’s staff.” In reviewing the OEIG complaint, the court determined that the allegations did not suggest that - 18 - 1-21-1526 Glorioso was the architect of the alleged scheme or highlight Glorioso’s culpability relative to other named individuals. The court noted that whether the publications were substantially true is a question of fact and Glorioso’s pleadings were sufficient to survive a motion to dismiss at the pleading stage. Similarly, the court found that the Sun-Times had not established that the articles could not be found to convey an erroneous impression to readers and were a fair and accurate summary of proceedings, thus defeating the Sun-Times’s invocation of the fair report privilege. The circuit court concluded that the erroneous message of the articles was “a combined product of Novak’s omission of certain information and Novak’s addition of his own assumption regarding Glorioso’s relative culpability.” ¶ 45 Regarding whether Glorioso sufficiently pled special damages, the circuit court stated that the Sun-Times was mistaken that he had to plead that the governor read the articles and decided to fire Glorioso. Rather, the court reiterated from its prior order that he did not need to prove this at the pleading stage. It was sufficient that he alleged that he lost his employment as a direct consequence of the publication of the alleged defamatory articles, which the court again held that he had. ¶ 46 3. July 28, 2021, Alternative Motion to Dismiss Under the Act ¶ 47 In support of its alternative argument that Glorioso’s complaint should be dismissed pursuant to the Act, the Sun-Times argued that it was a meritless and retaliatory SLAPP, filed in retaliation for protected speech on public affairs. The Sun-Times claimed that Glorioso’s suit met the SLAPP criteria because the same arguments for substantial truth, as well as evidence in the form of Glorioso’s e-mails showing that he was aware of the contents of the OEIG complaint and characterized the accusations in line with how the Sun-Times reported on them was proof that Glorioso knowingly filed a meritless claim. The Sun-Times’s other arguments were that Glorioso - 19 - 1-21-1526 filed the suit within three months of the publication of the later articles, and before the investigation concluded, and sought punitive damages for the allegedly meritless claims. ¶ 48 Shortly after briefing on the motion to reconsider or dismiss had closed, on September 23, 2021, the state’s Executive Ethics Commission published the redacted final report of the investigation, stating that OEIG had found Glorioso to have violated PTAB policies and state law by deleting PTAB files and e-mails in October 2020, and recommending that he not be rehired by the State of Illinois. The Sun-Times moved to supplement the record with the OEIG final report, as further evidence that Glorioso’s suit was a meritless and retaliatory SLAPP, and that the Sun- Times’s reporting on the investigation as to whether Glorioso had directed a large reduction in the 2011 Trump Tower property tax appeal was true and accurate characterization of events. ¶ 49 In the same October 29, 2021, order denying the motion to reconsider, the circuit court denied the motion to dismiss the suit as a SLAPP. The court determined that the defendants had not met their burden of showing that the suit was meritless, beginning with the fact that the court had previously found Glorioso’s pleadings to be sufficient, when it denied the Sun-Times’s motion to dismiss. The court reiterated its rejection of the arguments the Sun-Times raised in that motion and went on to analyze whether the suit was retaliatory, finding that the facts did not reflect retaliatory intent either. ¶ 50 II. THE PRESENT APPEAL ¶ 51 The Sun-Times now appeals from the denial of its (1) motion to dismiss and combined motion (2) to reconsider the circuit court’s initial order denying its motion to dismiss, or (3) in the alternative, to dismiss the suit pursuant to the Act. ^[2] In its (1) original motion to dismiss, the Sun-