On November 25, 2015, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts found in favor of the "Boston Herald" and Micki Delp in a defamation lawsuit brought by Scholz. In its ruling, the court said that statements attributing Delp's suicide to Scholz were "statements of opinion and not verifiable fact and therefore could not form the basis of a claim of defamation." On February 23, 2016, Scholz filed a petition for certiorari asking the Supreme Court of the United States to allow his defamation lawsuit to proceed. On June 6, 2016, the Supreme Court declined to review the case.