Sounds like a pretty silly lawsuit to me, and one that should fail. Firstly, it could fail if the allegations are proven to be true. And if the e-mail was written in confidence to a rep who is supposed to take care of such matters, then there possibly is qualified privilege. I mean, if there is no ombudsman how are such complaints to be conveyed? There was no malice involved, it was an honest concern, and it is girls softball for crying out loud... what kind of judge would rule this to be defamation?
Even whether it could be defamation at all is debatable. It was a private e-mail. It could only lower the estimation of the alleged victim in the eyes of the e-mail recipient alone, and that person seems to be someone whose job it is to deal with issues. But qualified privilege can be a bit dodgy with the wrong judge. I know in Australia a food critic was successfully sued for slamming a particular restaurant... I mean if you can't do that, then newspapers as we know them would shrivel and cease to exist.
But I too am not a lawyer. Please do not take this as legal advice.
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