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You Can Sue for Defamation in Small Claims Court
Wow. I may actually know what I’m talking about. In one of my earliest postings on this blog (recently updated to reflect the new damage limits), I recommended Small Claims Court to those who have...
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California’s Litigation Privilege is Absolutely Absolute
I receive calls every week from potential clients wanting to sue for defamation for something said in court or in a court document. I’ve written about the litigation privilege before, but let me state...
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How to Stop Defamation When You Can’t Afford an Attorney
Is there a way to stop defamation when you have limited funds to hire an attorney, or the damages you are seeking would not make hiring an attorney economically feasible? Here’s a call I get a few...
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How to Respond to a Cease and Desist Letter
I am frequently consulted by potential clients, who call to ask how best to respond to a cease and desist letter from an attorney, that claims the caller is guilty of defamation or some other wrongful...
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Understanding the Common Interest Privilege
Based on innumerable calls, and witnessing defamation actions brought by attorneys unfamiliar with privileged speech, it is clear that a discussion of the Common Interest Privilege is in order. Let’s...
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Would you want to live in a country where you could sue for that?
Happy birthday to you, You live in a zoo, You look like a monkey, And you smell like one too. -Anon I get lots of phone calls relating to defamation, where the caller wants to sue for some...
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Is Susanna Gibson a Victim of Revenge Porn?
In case you missed it, Susanna Gibson is a candidate for a seat in Virginia’s House of Delegates. Her campaign grabbed the public’s attention when it was revealed that she streamed sex acts online in...
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You Must Move Quickly if a News Publication Defames You
Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. America, from border to border and coast to coast, and all the ships as sea. The year was 1931. The Empire State Building had just been completed, the Star-Spangled Banner...
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What to do if a Doctor Puts False Information in your Medical Records
We get a surprising number of calls concerning medical records, and the false information contained therein. Often it arises in the context of a patient who is prescribed pain killers. Doctors,...
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Are News Reports Offered as Factual Assertions?
Sacramento Kings center Richaun Holmes is suing his ex-wife, Allexis Holmes, the Sacramento Bee, and one of its opinion writers, Robin Epley, for defamation. In the course of a custody battle, Allexis...
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Is it Defamatory to Call Someone “Racist”?
In today’s political climate, “racist” is the go-to pejorative in most every conversation. The moment one person feels that they are losing the argument, they call the other a racist. In fact, the use...
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Should You Sue Family Members for Defamation?
If one is asking whether they should sue family members for defamation, I have to wonder what Thanksgiving dinners are like with these families. I get these calls often, and they are very sad because...
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Watch Out for Litigation Costs
Some attorneys (and their clients) do not consider litigation costs when performing their cost/benefit analysis. Likely, if they consider them at all, it is only from the perspective of what they will...
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To be Defamatory, a Statement Must be Offered as a True Fact
A news article caught my eye today that beautifully illustrates an important aspect of defamation law. Here are the facts: According to Sky News and others, an Australian tennis player by the name of...
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If You Want to Sue for Defamation, Here’s Your Homework
I won’t bury the lead. If you want me to determine whether you have a viable defamation action, here is the information I need. It’s your defamation homework. I need to know exactly what was said, and...
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You Can’t Prove Slander Without a Witness
You can’t prove slander without a witness. Let’s begin with some definitions. As you likely know, if one is defamed in writing, that is libel, and if the defamation is spoken, that is slander. In the...
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Damages Do Not Prove Defamation
Damages do not prove defamation. A quick but very important aspect of defamation law. If someone defames you, and that defamation results in a gazillion dollars in damages, then of course those...
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A Statement is Not Defamatory Just Because it is False
I received a call today involving this important point of law, but when I went to forward the caller an article on the topic, I found that I have apparently never written one. I hereby correct that...
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Can you use the Terms of Service of Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, or...
Today’s article idea was generated by a call from a potential client. Someone caught him on video, doing something he should not have been doing, and posted it to YouTube. The video had gone viral,...
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Morris & Stone Wins $3.9 Million Defamation Judgment
First rule of defamation defense: Don’t say anything you can’t prove. I would think this concept would be so obvious and self-explanatory that it would never arise in my practice, but it comes up over...
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