Applying Gail Davis's Letter To Diana Ross

Gail Davis was a former executive assistant to the Motown legend, Diana Ross. Davis presided in that position until she voluntarily resigned. About a year later, a letter was written and distributed by Diana Ross, which claimed Gail Davis, along with several other former employees, was no longer employed by her. She further states that the employee's’ work or personal habits may have been unacceptable to her and if used as a reference, she requested to be contacted (Walsh, 2013, p. 164). Also, she states in her letter that she “she do not recommend theses people” (FindLaw, n.d., para. 4)

This whole case is revolved around a letter and its interpretation. For Davis, the letter sound as “though she had failed at the job and been dismissed"; Davis maintains that she was a good assistant who quit voluntarily (Lewin, 1987, para. 10). Ross, on the other hand, felt that the letter she distributed to the record companies were just her opinions and was not meant to be defamatory or libelous.

This case was taken to court, to federal court, where it was dismissed. However, Davis was not happy and pursued the Court of Appeals. During the trial, the court had to view the letter as a whole and not just as individual statements she claimed that the letter stated her opinions only. However, if it is

Davis stated she did not request a recommendation or reference from Ross, neither has any potential employers asked for information about Davis to Ross (Walsh, 2013, p. 164). The letter also appeared to have negative connotations, although Ross may disagree. Potential employers could have interpreted the letter as negative. Davis felt the letter made her seem to look as if she was terminated and was too incompetent to be an executive assistant. The letter did not differentiate, or could express, that Davis was not terminated, but instead, she volunteered to