In a town like New York City, many of the personal injury lawyers have to deal with cases that involve libel and slander. Here, there are so many people that it is easy to get lost, so a name means everything. It is the difference between a Gucci purse and a Got-cha purse.
To better understand what you can sue for, I did some research and found some sources that explain what libel and slander really mean, and how to sue someone for libel or slander in NYC.
First of all, based on FindLaw's "Defamation, Libel and Slander: Background," libel and slander are both in the same family: defamation. That means that if someone has caused harm to your reputation, you can see them in civil court. Your cannot bring criminal charges against the person unless they have done something else, because libel and slander are only seen as torts (civil crimes not criminal crimes).
Libel, is when the defamation is written whereas if it is spoken, it is called slander (FindLaw: "Can I Say That? Defamation Law Made Simple"). For both of these, the punishment is similar except in many cases, if it is written it may be judged more harshly because the written word stays around longer. However, now in this age where there is Youtube and other video outlets that let you broadcast what you say and have it in a format that can be repeated, that may change.
While different states have different rules, in order for it to be defamation (or to defame someone) the statement has to be published, false, injurious, and unprivileged (FindLaw).
By published, the statement has to be heard or seen by someone who is not the defendant or the plaintiff. That is easy enough, because if no one else heard it or saw it, how has that defamed someone? There is no one who would think less of the plaintiff.
If someone says something mean, but it's true, then it isn't defamation: it's a harsh fact. If a wife was cheating on her husband, and someone spread the rumor, it would definitely hurt her reputation, but it is her fault. She cheated, so she brought it on herself.
If it is injurious, then the dent in the plaintiff's reputation may have caused a dent in their wallet. Have you lost work because people do not want to associate with you? In many cases the injury does not need to involve money. It can come from a wounded social life or the scornful looks of neighbors. Oddly enough, if you did not have a pristine reputation to begin with you won't get a lot since you were so low to start with.
Finally, there are "privileged" circumstances that involve witnesses in trials and certain law makers. If you are an average citizen, chances are this loophole won't apply to you.
Now there are a lot of grey areas, that involve opinions, freedom of speech and freedom of the press, so to get a complete understanding of what you can sue for, you can contact a New York personal injury attorney. They can help you if you are the suer or the sueie.
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