More on whether defamation claim can be based on a true statement

I recently posted on the recent case from the Court of Appeals for the First Circuit which, applying Massachusetts law, found a plaintiff can sustain a defamation claim even though the statement upon which the claim was based was true (here and here). Here is a link to a comment on the case by columnist Julie Hilden of FindLaw.com. Her conclusion: ". . .the obvious First Amendment question was one the First Circuit should have taken up now, en banc – rather than dodging it, and leaving it for another day. In the First Amendment context, delay can be deadly, for it kills speech in the interim. Until this question again comes before the courts, Massachusetts citizens will speak a bit less freely than those in the other states – and that is a deep shame."