When a party is taken to court for defamation that already occurred, what is the request to the judge to do?

Question

There was an incident where my employer claimed I did something (which I didn't do) that led to someone getting injured. They seemed to have investigated the issue internally but came to the wrong conclusion I was to blame. I was still in my probation so it was easy for them to fire me. I have learnt that management have involved my coworkers and have told them that I had done the thing which I didn't do, and have been asking them about my character.

Is this defamation? Even if it isn't I'm just curious, in court what would the request to the judge be if a party is committing defamation? It could be an order for the party to stop defaming comments but if they already made the statements, would it be a public statement that they were wrong?

Answer 1

It is defamation if a person makes a false (damaging) statement to another person. For example is they said you didn't shut off the engine (and that act harms someone), but you did shut off the engine, that is defamation. If they say to you only that you did this thing, it is not defamation. It could also be the statement that you belched loudly. In the latter case you would have to show that you were harmed by their statement, but in the case you describe, this would fall under the category of per se defamation (professional incompetence), where is is legally taken to not require proof of actual damages.

A defamation lawsuit generally involves a monetary award, to compensate the defamee for what they lost (get a lawyer, who will tell you the amount). It could also involve telling the defendants to issue a retraction.