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4401 A widely known plastic surgeon who is a prominent professor and practitioner at a prestigious medical institution, and who wrote numerous articles on plastic surgery, spoke about plastic surgery on local television shows, and advertised in the media was a limited issue public figure in an action for defamation arising from statements about plastic surgery he performed; statements that were not factual could not be the basis of defamation liability; false statements that were made without knowledge of their falsity or in reckless disregard of the truth could not be the basis of liability for defamation of a public figure; in the absence of actual malice, other tort actions arising from allegedly defamatory statements about a public figure could not be established.CitationGILBERT v SYKES (Plastic Surgery) 147 CA4 13 [See: CCP 425.16; Ringler v Maryland Cas 80 CA4 1165, T/AT 6/00; Copp v Paxton 45 CA4 829, T/AT 6/96]
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