think before you post! Defamation is a cause of action for written or spoken communications that cause a person to suffer damage to their reputation, or have a tendency to cause such damage. Defamation is commonly known as slander in the event of a defamatory statement that is spoken, and libel when the defamatory statement is written or otherwise recorded. Slander and libel are treated similarly for purposes of a defamation lawsuit. Whether the harmful statement was written or spoken, a plaintiff must prove that a defamatory statement was made, that the statement was published to a third party, that the person publishing the statement was negligent as to its truth or knew that the statement was false, and damages resulting from the defamatory statement. In order for a statement to be defamatory, it should tend to harm one’s reputation. That can mean that it makes others think less of person about whom the statement is made, or deters others from wanting to deal with that person, or tends to lower that person’s standing in the community. For a statement to be defamatory, it must assert a fact; it cannot be merely an opinion, and the statement must be understood by a reasonable person to be an assertion of fact. The requirement that the defamatory statement be published to a third party means that the statement must be spoken to someone other than the person about whom the statement is made, or must be written and delivered to some other than the person about whom the statement is made. This requirement is easily met where the defamatory statement is published in a newspaper, broadcast on television or the internet, or spoken to an audience. This requirement of publication to a third party cannot be circumvented by the person about whom the statement is made relaying the defamatory statement to a third party.
Posted on: Wed, 23 Jul 2014 14:52:18 +0000
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