Court denies former PCSD COO’s request to appeal defamation ruling

Park City School District's former COO, Michael Tanner. Photo: Park City School District

Michael Tanner can’t sue journalist Michelle Deininger over a 2024 article, but fight continues over Facebook posts

PARK CITY, Utah – The Utah Court of Appeals has denied former Park City School District Chief Operating Officer Michael Tanner’s request to appeal a ruling that dismissed with prejudice the majority of his defamation lawsuit claims against freelance journalist Michelle Deininger.

The court issued the denial Sept. 8. Its one-page order didn’t explain the decision or address whether her reporting and commentary were true or false.

Tanner sought to appeal 3rd District Court Judge Richard Mrazik’s June 12 ruling. Mrazik dismissed all claims related to Deininger’s November 2024 story in The Park Record about Tanner’s compensation and remote work, which won the Utah Society of Professional Journalists Don Baker Award in 2025 for investigative journalism. The article remains live on the newspaper’s website.

“We are pleased with the Court of Appeals ruling,” said Jeff Hunt, Deininger’s lawyer. The district court has already dismissed Mr. Tanner’s claims based on the Park Record article. We believe Michelle’s social media commentary related to that article is also protected under the First Amendment and look forward to defending those statements in court.”

Tanner’s lawyer Ryan Bell, did not respond to questions about the appeal denial before press time.

The June ruling also dismissed additional claims Tanner made regarding debate questions Deininger posed and social media posts made in 2025.

Mrazik left open several Facebook comments for Tanner to pursue, ruling that Tanner’s sworn statements declaring the comments false were sufficient evidence to proceed. Tanner must prove the comments contained false information and that Deininger knew that or recklessly disregarded whether they were true.

Tanner sued Deininger after his job was eliminated last summer, alleging the article contained false statements, damaged his reputation and got him fired. He is seeking more than $300,000 in damages. The Park Record was not named as a defendant and declined to help Deininger with legal expenses.

Mrazik’s ruling stated a report on remote work wasn’t capable of a defamatory meaning since Tanner had written permission from his boss, former PCSD Superintendent Jill Gildea, to work remotely as needed to accommodate military duties and care for an aging parent. In his appeal, Tanner argued that Mrazik improperly considered statements from the story individually rather than evaluating the article as a whole.

On several of Tanner’s claims Mrazik ruled that Tanner had not filed sufficient evidence.

Appeals court’s denial does not end lawsuit

Mrazik’s June ruling reduced a longer list of Facebook claims. He allowed Tanner to pursue a statement Deininger made that district employees were “terrified of Tanner” and that an employee lied to HR about his policy violations because of fear of retaliation.

He also allowed Tanner to pursue his claim over Deininger’s statement that he had “lied for years” about military duties requiring him to work remotely.

In May of 2025, PCSD released results of an external investigation that found Tanner had provided “inaccurate information” regarding his service, a potential cause for termination. An Attorney General investigation report prompted by a whistleblower letter found Tanner’s last military orders were in 2016. He joined PCSD in 2019 as its first COO.

Court papers say Deininger told another Facebook user that Tanner had told a City Hall employee he wanted to kill her. She also wrote that Park City police became involved and that the matter was escalated to the Utah Attorney General’s Office, which she said “confirmed it” and directed Tanner to have no contact with her. Tanner’s sworn statement called the post false.

Mrazik dismissed a claim over Deininger’s post about hazardous arsenic-contaminated soil near school playgrounds and classrooms, finding the comments were either rhetorical or an opinion about Tanner’s job performance rather than statements that could be proven true or false.

“This case is about protecting journalists from meritless defamation claims that are based on speech about matters of public concern,” Hunt said. “We will continue to defend that principle.”

Once the remaining three claims are resolved and the district court enters a final ruling, either side could appeal that decision.

Shortly after Tanner filed his appeal request, Deininger’s friends launched a GoFundMe to help with her six-figure legal bills. As of Friday the campaign has raised nearly $14,000 from 83 donors.