January 31, 2022 | By Greene Broillet & Wheeler
There is quite a fragile relationship between the right to freedom of speech and the right to protect a reputation. It can be challenging to determine which statements about a person are okay to make and which violate defamation laws.
According to the Cornell Law School Legal Information Institute (LII), “Defamation is a statement that injures a third party’s reputation. The tort of defamation includes both libel (written statements) and slander (spoken statements).”
As you can tell, defamation is an umbrella term used to describe any statement that harms a person’s reputation and is also commonly known as defamation of character.
If someone states something damaging about you in writing and it is published, the defamation is referred to as libel. When the harmful words are stated orally, it is considered slander.
Defamation is regarded as a civil wrong or a tort. This means if you suffer harm as a result of a defamatory statement, defamation law provides you with the right to pursue litigation against the person who made the damaging statement.
Read on to learn more of the details you should know about defamation.
It can be difficult to discern when someone can be held accountable for defamation, given the strong freedom of speech laws in the United States.
On one side, you should be able to speak freely about your life experiences without being afraid of having a lawsuit filed against you for saying something unfavorable about another, so long as you are honest.
On the other side, you also have the right not to have inaccurate information that is harmful to your reputation spread about you.
The absolute defense is a factual statement that sheds light on what is true versus what is not, and will determine the outcome of the case once proved. At this point, the successful party may pursue a lawsuit for punitive damages against the wrongful party, depending on the specific circumstances of the case.
In order to prove prima facie defamation, you must be able to prove the following four general elements:
California Code, Civil Code – CIV § 48 is the section of the law that handles defamation legality. First, it’s helpful to understand some of the particular definitions of the terms listed in the legislation, including:
Now that you have a better understanding of some of the language found in the legislation, the law as it’s written should make more sense.
According to the California Civil (CIV) Code 48,
Harmful statements that can be held accountable for defamation are typically made on the following platforms:
While social media is a helpful tool that has grown widely in popularity throughout the past several years, it has also made it much easier for libel to occur. You may be able to hold someone accountable for defamation that occurs on social media if the person posts content that damages your reputation or character.
The harmful content could be completely inaccurate, or it could be an exaggeration of the truth. In some cases, defamatory statements are relayed as absolute truths but contain falsehoods or neglect to tell the entire story as the events truly occurred.
It is important to keep in mind that defamatory statements can bridge the gaps between various social media platforms. For instance, if someone makes harmful statements about you on Facebook, the damaging words can quickly and easily make their way over to Twitter and Instagram.
Slanderous words can be stated anywhere and to anyone, so long as they are a third party (someone other than the person experiencing defamation).
For instance, if a friend of yours tells defamatory information about you to another friend, you may be able to hold him or her accountable for defamation if you can prove you’ve sustained quantifiable harm due to the slanderous statements.
Having your reputation harmed as a result of another’s untrue statement should never occur. It is unacceptable to have your good name tarnished as a result of someone else’s ill will toward you. However, if such a situation does occur, you deserve to recover the maximum amount of compensation possible to make up for your losses.
Our skilled team has helped many others in similar situations recover the maximum allowable compensation for their defamation cases, and we may be able to help you with your slander or libel case too. Don’t hesitate to reach out to our office right away to learn more about what our experienced team can do to help protect your legal rights.