What Is A Defamation Case?

Personal injury lawyers don't just deal with cases that involve physical injury. They also handle cases that involve injury to your character or reputation. These cases are called defamation cases. 

What Is Defamation?

Defamation happens when someone says something false that can substantially hurt your character or reputation. It can't be a statement like "She's a liar," which would hurt someone's feelings. It has to be something more like saying that "Sally Jones plagiarized a research paper that got her a job." A statement like that could seriously affect Sally's career prospect and destroy any reputation that Sally had in her academic circles. That is substantial injury. On top of that, it has to be heard or seen by at least one other person. 

In order to bring a defamation case, it has to be proven that what Person A said would hurt Sally's career and is false. The person who is being sued for defamation has the burden of proof to show that what they are saying is true. In Sally's case, that proof could include things like copies of the paper she allegedly plagiarized. Sally's lawyer could rebut that fact by showing where Sally used snippets of other papers to prove her case and that they were properly cited. 

What Are The Kinds of Defamation?

There are two ways that defamation can happen. They are libel and slander. What's the difference between the two?

Libel: Libel is a defamatory statement that appears in writing. That means that the false statement made about you has to be written and published in a newspaper, magazine, or other written form. These days, most libel is found in places on the Internet: blogs, blog comments, forums, or social media. 

Slander: Sander is a defamatory comment that someone actually says. Slander may actually be harder to prove, since it can turn into a who said what contest. Because the defamatory comment has to be heard by a 3rd party, it can be very easy for the other person's lawyer to say that the 3rd party misheard the comment. However, the more people who hear the comment, the better the case will be.

If there has been harmful comments made about you that could potentially damage your reputation by doing things like causing you to lose your job, you may have the basis of a successful defamation case. The best way to find out is to go see a personal injury lawyer. To find out more, speak with someone like Burke Schultz Harman & Jenkinson Attorneys at Law.