Barna Log Homes of Georgia, Inc. “Barna”, filed an action against Randy Wischmann alleging claims for breach of contract and libel. Wischmann filed a motion to dismiss or, alternatively, motion for summary judgment, which the trial court treated as a motion for summary judgment and granted as to Barna’s libel claims.1 Barna now appeals the trial court’s grant of partial summary judgment, and we affirm for the reasons that follow. Summary judgment is proper when there is no genuine issue of material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. OCGA § 9-11-56 c. A de novo standard of review applies to an appeal from a grant of summary judgment, and we view the evidence, and all reasonable conclusions and inferences drawn from it, in the light most favorable to the nonmovant.2 So viewed, the record shows that Barna is a distributer of manufactured log home packages built by Barna Log Homes, LLC. In June 2006, Wischmann entered into a contract with Barna to purchase a log home package. In October 2007, Wischmann cancelled the home contract and offered to purchase a log siding package. Thereafter, Wischmann cancelled the siding contract. During this time, Wischmann made two written statements regarding his experience dealing with Barna, which are the subject of Barna’s libel claims. The first statement was a post made on a website on October 23, 2007, and the second was an email written by Wischmann and addressed to Jason Smith of the Mountain Creek Hollow Homeowners’ Association representing the community in which Wischmann’s intended home would be built. The website posting, which Wischmann made to the section of the website in which customers may post reviews and ratings about various companies providing services related to log homes, was titled “Caution to New Build” and stated: No problem with Barna directly, but the distributor, Barna Log Homes of GA, was grossly overcharging for the materials and did a poor job on the engineering overview and window specifications. Luckily, my builder caught the problems before we were too far along. Very surprised by the situation because the local distributor had a great reputation with everyone I talked to and I like the owner. In my meetings with him, I felt that I was being well taken care of but when we got to the details it was not the case. Very disappointed. Wischmann provided a rating of 1.5 out of 5 points with his review.
The email from Wischmann was five paragraphs long and described the state of construction on his lot. Wischmann explained that he was originally working with Barna, but he cancelled his agreement with them, explaining some of the reasons for that decision. First, Wischmann explained that “with the housing recession going on, I asked Barna to give me some relief on the basic building materials.” Wischmann contended that his builder investigated the local costs for certain building items and found that “Barna was basically doubling the cost.” Wischmann stated that “in his business experience, a distributor that does not handle or inventory materials gets 5-10 mark up. Barna was charging 100. . . . I will end up saving between $40-50,000 on the material cost alone.”
