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Max Sharp / Eclipse Sportswire

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert won a partial victory in his court case against social-media critics Justin Wunderler and Dan DiCorcia.

A federal judge in California granted Baffert’s request for partial summary judgment in finding that Wunderler’s social-media statements claiming that Baffert trainees Arrogate and Muth were administered banned drugs were false and defamatory. But he denied summary judgment in other parts of Baffert’s motion.

The case dates to September 2023, when Baffert sued Wunderler and DiCorcia, who post on X under the handles @SwiftHitter and @barshoelife, respectively.

The scope of the claims has been narrowed as the case advanced, and in January, Baffert filed for summary judgment, which is a judgment entered by a court in favor of one party and against another party without a full trial when there is no dispute about material facts.

In an order filed Monday, judge Robert Huie of the U.S. district court for Southern California granted Baffert’s request for partial summary judgment for the question of whether posts made by Wunderler were false and defamatory.

Also at issue was whether, as Baffert claimed, DiCorcia is responsible, under a theory of civil conspiracy, for defamation perpetrated by Wunderler. Huie said there was insufficient evidence to grant summary judgment on this question.

Another question was whether DiCorcia acted with actual malice by facilitating false statements made by Wunderler. Huie again said there was insufficient evidence to grant summary judgment.