Questions tagged [defamation]
Tortious damage to a reputation. When the defamation is specifically written use "libel"; use "slander" when it is specifically spoken.
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What are the rules about defamation when information is accidentally released?
It is in the news that Omid Scobie, the author of the book Endgame, is claiming that he produced an early version of his book with potentially defamatory statements about the UK royal family. This ...
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What is the "important thing" that can make a true statement defamatory wrt the X/Media Matters lawsuit?
It is in the news that Elon Musk's social media platform X has sued Media Matters a media watchdog group. Media Matters has published multiple reports about X alleging adverts for major companies have ...
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Credit scores & defamation
Suppose you apply for a loan and are denied or are offered undesirable terms on the basis of a bad credit score as reported by one of the reporting bureaus. After reviewing your report you find ...
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Has any acquitted defendant ever lost a defamation case, accused of committing the crime?
Trevor the truth teller witnesses Craig the criminal commit a crime.
The police speaks to Trevor and charges Craig.
At the trial, the jury for whatever reason does not find Trevor's testimony reliable ...
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Is publishing defamatory statements from an "anonymous source" protected?
Say that Andy the Actor is minding his own business, when the Washington Post posts an article about him, claiming that, according to anonymous sources, Andy is a racist bigotted transphobe that has ...
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What makes politicians "fair game"?
People say and write things about politicians they would never dream of saying about celebrities or corporate tycoons. They accuse them of lying, corruption, and racism and create political cartoons ...
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Legal Term for Legal Issues in Media Other Than IP
The first legal arena most writers learn about is probably copyright, or intellectual property (IP). However, there are many other issues to be aware of, including defamation, immorality, the right to ...
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Identifying people protected by estate rights
When a person writes an article or book about a living person, the author has to deal with issues like publicity rights, rights to privacy, moral rights, and defamation. If I'm not mistaken, these ...
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Does a disingenuous defamation lawsuit constitute malicious prosecution?
Some defamation cases (in the United States) collapse when the discovery process produces some decisive piece of evidence proving that the supposedly defamed person did what the defendant had claimed. ...
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Is there a viable cause of action for exposing someone of academic misconduct?
Is there a viable cause of action for exposing someone's academic misconduct from a country different than the one the exposed person lives and works.
For instance if you live in a European country, ...
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Which countries law applies in online defamation?
Let's say Person A who lives in Germany writes defamatory statements on Twitter, incorporated in the US, about Person B who lives in Thailand.
Person B suffers damage abroad as a result of the Tweets. ...
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Could a sarcastic positive statement be defamatory in the U.K.?
"Brutus is an honorable man" is not a defamatory statement on its face. That, I believe, would satisfy U.S. law.
But the quote, from Shakespeare's work Julius Caesar, was actually an ironic ...
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Is a defamatory statement that could be reasonably understood as referring to someone that it does not actually refer to illegal?
From an article on Not the Bee (emphasis added):
Joe [Biden]... lies daily, without reservation, because it has become his very way of living. To lie is to be Joe Biden. He takes after his father in ...
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Opinion vs Defamation [duplicate]
Alex Jones was fined over $1 billion for defaming Sandy Hook parents. I don't know the details, but I believe the essence of the case is that he claimed certain individuals were involved in a ...
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Is there precedent for defamation/moral injury due to public ignorance in the UK?
Due to a separation, I've heard mention of my ex-partner thinking about an "Occupancy Order" which basically sets out who can live in a marital home.
These are, as it turns out, distinct ...
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When does s3(1) of the Defamation Act *not* apply in malicious falesehood cases?
To successfully bring a claim for maliicous falsehood in the UK, one has to show that one has suffered "special damages", which are actual damages suffered as a direct consequence of a ...
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What is the smallest audience for a communication that has been deemed capable of defamation?
Descriptions of the criteria for defamation seem widely to describe any statement that is communicated to a third party as being defamatory if they are (broadly speaking) false and harmful.
This seems ...
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I am being threatened for defamation for sharing an article about an alleged scammer which was published in local news site
There is an alleged scammer in my community. An article about him was published by our local news site.
As I have a lot of contacts, I shared the article to all my contacts and it became viral. He is ...
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Is it illegal to say somebody is crazy when it is obviously false in the US?
One time I was walking quickly in a park trail for my exercise routine in California, and there were dog owners who didn't leash their dogs or use a 25 foot leash and let them go freely within the 25 ...
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Australian resident libels UK resident
Can a UK Resident sue an Australian Resident for Libel or Defamation, as in Australia, If the sender of emails had lived in the UK?
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Onlyfans account leaked to my family [duplicate]
I have an OnlyFans account which for obvious reasons I kept secret from everyone. But somehow someone has leaked its content (perhaps a friend or an ex-partner who wanted to take a revenge on me). He/...
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Can hypothesis-publishing make one liable for defamation?
It is understandable that if Bob says "Rob murdered Alice", Bob will be liable for defamation unless he can prove that Rob indeed murdered Alice on the preponderance of evidence (this is ...
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Online Defamation in Germany after the Künast court victory
M F Whitaker asked a question which has since been closed because it asked for legal advice in a specific case. I believe that there are two questions of general interest in the closed posting. The ...
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defaming an anonymous person
Suppose there is someone only known by an avatar. Suppose no public information is available as to who is the real person behind the avatar.
My question is whether there is any case-law about whether ...
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Is it ever illegal to spread true facts with malicious intent?
Crimes such as defamation usually require that the statement being said is false - truth is an absolute defense.
Are there any situations or jurisdictions where truth is not a defense against ...
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In the Dominion lawsuit at what point does a statement implying, but not explicitly stating, fraud occurred rise to the level of defamation?
It seems the primary defense Fox News' lawyers are making in the Dominion defamation lawsuit seems to be that Fox was only sharing alleged allegations and expressing opinion, but they never explicitly ...
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Is it legal to publish a cease and desist letter that I have received?
I've received a cease and desist letter for defamation from a local businessperson that I believe to be without legal basis - the actionable statements listed are clearly statements of my opinion. ...
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What kind of legal trouble would have a law firm that called its defeated opponents assholes?
Say a new law firm wants to come up with a fresh and juicy marketing strategy to win a share of local law market.
They adopt a moral code which, although could be seen arguable, is nevertheless ...
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Can AI-generated text be considered defamation?
This question is inspired by recent news about some of the strange, out-of-control behavior from Microsoft's new Bing chat AI, but I am asking hypothetically here.
If an AI chatbot such as Bing Chat ...
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Is evidence of rumours of a defendant's racism unhelpful in a defamation case involving accusations of cheating?
Defendant accuses Plaintiff of cheating in a competition. Plaintiff sues Defendant for defamation.
Plaintiff has heard rumours that Defendant is racist. Assuming these could be substantiated in some ...
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Would it be / have been unhelpful for Hans Niemann to bring up Magnus Carlsen's own cheating?
This is about the Carlsen–Niemann controversy asked about previously:
Why don't courts punish time-wasting tactics?
How can Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian, be sued for defamation by Hans Niemann in ...
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Can private text messages be considered defamation in Canada? [closed]
I've had long chats via text messages with a friend, where I accused other people of sexually assaulting me (which was true, but I have no way of proving it really...), and mocking other people with ...
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When can you file a lawsuit against a "parody" website?
Hypothetically speaking, if someone were to make a website about 4 different lawyers and 2 different firms and promote it as a parody website using elements of breaking bad, better call saul, etc.
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How can Magnus Carlsen, a Norwegian, be sued for defamation by Hans Niemann in Missouri?
Hans Niemann is suing multiple people for defamation (full complaint):
Among the defendants, Norwegian Magnus Carlsen is listed. I don't get how this is possible: they're two separate countries with ...
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What can be considered a "reasonable excuse" when mistakenly breaching a court order? [closed]
Is it too subjective to think the serious allegations made in the order had being taken out of any possible and plausible context, twisting it in such way so they could paint a really bad picture ...
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EU whistleblowing directive and legal assistance
In the EU whistleblowing Directive (EU) 2019/1937, it's stated that if the whistleblower is sued for defamation, legal assistance should be provided to him/her.
If we assume the legal actions have ...
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In a defamation case, can the defendant not prove statement to be true and still win the case?
A male celebrity has said to a tabloid newspaper he slept with a female celebrity when they worked in a production few years ago. The female celeb is now suing him for defamation as she says that this ...
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Can you defame a profession?
Suppose someone publishes the statement "All lawyers are thieves." Obviously, this is not true; there most likely are some lawyers who are also thieves, but certainly not all. Would it be ...
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If one is suing for libel, would they just list "libel" in the "claims for relief" section in a complaint, or would the specify the type of libel?
If one is suing for libel, do they just write "libel" in the "claims for relief" section of the complaint or do they specify libel per se or libel per quod? Furthermore, can one ...
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Can a true statement be defamatory?
Can a true statement be "defamatory"? I know that truth is a defence to a defamation action, in that no liability will generally result if what you have communicated is true, but is it ...
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What can I do about an ex-landlord “trash talking” me on Facebook?
I had lived in a shared rental house with 4 other tenants. Problems arose when the landlord wanted me to move out early despite what the lease said. He got the other tenants to bug me until I agreed, ...
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If someone does not downvote defamatory post does that mean they endorse it?
If someone does not downvote defamatory posts on Stackexchange are they liable for defamation under Indian Penal code? I am refering to section 499 and section 500.
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Could a president sue a person for defamation during their time in office?
In this hypothetical (unless it's happened in the past), a prominent citizen or news agency makes statements about the president, or his decisions or policies, that are knowingly inaccurate or false ...
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Is it illegal to satirically compare someone to Hitler?
The Babylon Bee just posted at least ten articles saying Biden did various things that Hitler did ("names self Supreme Führer", "announces invasion of Poland", "swallows ...
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What happens when evidence comes to light outside the Statute of Limitations period?
I suffered damage as a result of defamation, through a previous employer breaching laws against disclosure of information.
I spoke to a lawyer at that time and was told my chances of success were ...
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If a tort occurs over social media, does the Plaintiff's state have personal jurisdiction over the defendant?
Say person A lives in one state, and person B was harassing them on social media. Person A wants to sue for both libel and intentional infliction of emotional distress. Would the harassment (B making ...
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On the disclaimer about everything in a work being fictional
Sorry if I am putting this under the wrong tabs.
But I am writing a game and am concerned about inclusion of the statement that "This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents ...
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alleging defamation in a UK court
The term ‘defamation’ describes an untrue statement that’s been presented as fact and causes harm to the character of the person it describes. If someone’s reputation is damaged because of a false ...
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Can defamation involve a non-believing third party?
A false statement communicated to a third party can be defamatory per se, not requiring proof of actual damage, if the statement falls into one of 4 categories: accusation of committing a crime, ...
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How do I warn people about a scammer/swindler who has not yet been indicted wihout being defamatory?
I live in Australia. There is this person who cheats people all the time through devious schemes and convincing talks. I myself lost a few thousands of dollars from him. Two of my friends lost $50,000 ...
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