Defamation

[SeekerOfJustice]

In every jurisdiction that I am admitted in (four), truth is an absolute defence to a claim of defamation. However, I am not admitted in Ontario, so you may want to check locally.

Bear in mind though that it may depend upon which jurisdiction you are in as to effective the defence may be. In England, the defendant has to prove that the defamatory statement was true. But (oversimplifying slightly) in most US states, the claimant has to prove that the defamatory statement was untrue. As a result, you get a lot more defamation claims in the UK than in the US.

Just bear in mind that what you think is the "truth" may look very different when additional "true" facts are added to present a fuller picture.

I'm a Lawyer. This is good info. I would also add that there must be damages to prove up any claim as well as the fact that the plaintiff often must have been affected in a "business" or professional sense.

 

[hypertech]

I'm a Lawyer. This is good info. I would also add that there must be damages to prove up any claim as well as the fact that the plaintiff must have been affected in a "business" or professional sense.

I slept in a Holiday Inn last night, and this is bad info. If you are a lawyer, you should know that a claim of defamation may have different elements in different jurisdictions. Saying that a claimant must prove that they are affected in a "business" or professional sense is simply not true in some, if not many of the jurisdictions where this board is read.

 

[furby076]

There is a lot of good advice here. Even if you state absolute facts (different from truth) if someone decides to sue you then you will have to defend yourself which can cost lots of money. Even worse, the person suing you may not have to pay a dime (they just pay a percentage to the lawyer). Given that, if you utilized someones services then feel free to state your story. Many people do it ALL THE TIME! Look at all the companies who have people making online posts saying how those companies suck and hate the lifeblood of their customers. Some of it may be true, some of it may be false, but these companies rarely do anything against it. It's the internet, which means the vitriol oozes from the keyboard to the screen.

Frankly, I am not afraid to post negative comments about poor service, but I do make sure I detail the information accurately. Also, stating opinions is perfectly fine. For example, "I went to X company and the owner gave me the creeps. I felt like he was undressing me with his eyes". That's your feelings and opinion and you stated it as such "gave me the creeps" and "felt like" are all feelings and the owner of the company would have an impossible time proving that you didn't have those feelings. Now if you make a statement, "The owner of the company walked up to me and grabbed my butt, and licked my neck" well now you stated an action as a matter of fact. Even if the owner did do this, the owner could sue you and say "prove it". At this point you should hopefully have witnesses, documentation, and a police report.

 

[SeekerOfJustice]

I slept in a Holiday Inn last night, and this is bad info. If you are a lawyer, you should know that a claim of defamation may have different elements in different jurisdictions. Saying that a claimant must prove that they are affected in a "business" or professional sense is simply not true in some, if not many of the jurisdictions where this board is read.

Fixed that for yah smarty! I had intended to quote another post above that gave the generalized statements regarding variances by JDXN. However, that was apparently left of the post I made. DOH!