Defamation of character law

What is defamation of character?

Defamation of character occurs when someone makes a false statement about you to a third party that is damaging to your reputation.

What is defamation of character law?

Defamation of character law is designed to protect and compensate individuals and business from having their character and reputation improperly damaged by untrue defamatory statements.

Under defamation of character law, if you make out a successful defamation case in court, you may be able to stop that person from making or publishing such statements about you. You may also be able to get compensation.

What are the elements of a defamation of character case?

The elements of a defamation case are:

• A statement was communicated (spoken/published/broadcast, etc) to a third party or parties
• You (or your business) are able to be identified by the statement
• The statement is defamatory

How do you know if a statement was defamatory?

When someone says something bad about you (or your business) it can be hard to be objective about whether it was defamatory. For this reason it is important to obtain advice from a specialist defamation solicitor who is experienced in assessing defamation claims.

For example, insulting or abusive statements are not always defamatory. What needs to be shown is that the statement damages your reputation, or lowers you in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally.

Get legal advice – let us help

If you think you might have a claim, speak to a defamation solicitor. Many defamation solicitors are willing to offer you an initial consultation for free, to see if you have a claim.

Contact Law works with many specialist defamation solicitors. We can put you in touch with them so you can speak to a solicitor today.

If you would like to obtain legal advice on defamation of character law, Contact Law can put you in touch with local defamation solicitors free of charge. Please call us on 0800 1777 162 or complete the web-form above and we’ll call you back.

Last Updated on 02/03/2010