Slander/Defamation

[Kitty7]

I have a hypothetical that I am curious about. If people are calling a man in the community a "rapist" and "sexual predator" on an email list with hundreds of members when there are no such criminal charges/allegations against him, is there a possible claim for slander/defamation? Is a defense like 'our community standard is one where we can say whatever we want' likely to be a viable defense? How does gossip impact the reasonable belief requirement?

Sorry that this is 3 questions rolled into one - since they're on the same hypo, I thought it may be ok to post.

 

[seniorjudge]

To find out if you have a case, you need to invest $30K (if it's cheap) and three years (if it's quick) and sue the bad people in court.

 

[bcbc]

my sonn was beat by an adult male and we are proceeding into a felony jury trial. My son age 21 after the attack posted a pix of his bloody face on his my space, a friend asked what he was going to do & he responded that he will sue him for all he has, money, house car.etc. This man is trying to use this against my son. Can he ?

 

[mafioso]

The DA can argue against using this based on the lack of sufficient acceptable legal provenance or authenticity of the post on my space…… "It might be his page but does not mean he did it". Your sons should not answer or talk with them or any friends about any details of his case. But even if he said that, he reserves his first amendment right to free speak about his intention to sue or whatever. That would not hurt his case. They may try Adhominen attacks which would not work because they are not necessary to influence the facts of the case. This is a small detail which would not alter the outcome of the case. The "red neck stuff" might not have been the best choice of words but he might have done that in anger which is a fair argument. It would not hurt the case if allowed. They would even have to prove he posted such a comment…………It could have been done by his friend who has access to his page and password who was just messing around. His post has nothing to do with the real facts of the case……..It would change nothing!