Keven A. FORTH, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. The KROGER COMPANY, Defendant-Appellee, 471 F. App'x 484

PER CURIAM. Plaintiff Keven Forth was terminated from his job as grocery manager at a Kroger store in Lake Orion, Michigan. He was fired for theft at the conclusion of a brief investigation into his purchase of marked-down meat and electronics from the store at which he worked. The propriety of Forth’s termination is not at issue here. Instead, Forth claims that Kroger defamed him by disseminating the basis of his termination to his former coworkers and the general public. The district court granted the defendant’s motion for

summary judgment, holding that plaintiff failed to specifically plead facts regarding Kroger’s publication of a defamatory statement, as required by Michigan law. On appeal, Forth claims that he presented sufficient specific evidence to support his claims for defamation and “compelled self-defamation.” We have reviewed the record on appeal and have carefully considered the arguments made by the parties in their briefs. Having done so, we conclude that the district court properly granted judgment to defendant and affirm based upon the reasoning set forth in its Order filed on October 5, 2010. The judgment of the district court is affirmed.