In Antonovich v. Superior Court (1991) 234 Cal. App. 3d 1041, the defendant had no evidence that his opponent had shredded and destroyed files, as the defendant had charged, and the defendant had failed to investigate after his opponent had offered contrary proof. The Court of Appeal concluded that the trier of fact was entitled to conclude that the defendant's " 'inaction was a product of a deliberate decision not to acquire knowledge of facts that might confirm the probable falsity of [the subject] charges,' which amounts to a 'purposeful avoidance of the truth' " so as to support a finding of actual malice. (234 Cal. App. 3d at p. 1053.)