my husband recently received a letter from an employer that is written like this:complete papers are very important to readers and advertisers. So important that we can't trust you to leave the depot until you have assembled all of the papers that you are responsible for. There is more to this but this is just the small part of what it going on.
2007-08-03 10:25:10 · 5 answers · asked by Jen M 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
That portion which you quoted is not defamatory.
Contrary to the above, defamation requires a false statement made with the requisite degree of legal malice, injurious to the reputation of the person about whom the statement is made, that is communicated to at least one other person other than the maker of the statement and the person about whom the allegedly defamatory statement is made. It need not be public.
While the above statement may seem negative, it's not injurious to the reputation, and it's certainly not made with any degree of legal malice (indeed, it's probably made under what lawyers call a qualified privilege). And, as the immediately previous poster correctly noted, it is not clear that the letter was communicated to a third party.
2007-08-06 03:10:06 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE, do not rely on this for any purpose.
Defamation requires a defamatory statement made by a person to a third party (other than the person being allegedly defamed). You facts indicate that the letter was given to your husband, meaning that there was no publication to a third-person. As such, the common law elements of defamation do not exist under the circumstances of these facts.
2007-08-03 20:42:58 · answer #2 · answered by Edward r 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Defamation requires a (public) statement that is factually untrue and that harms a person's reputation in the community.
Nothing there seems to be a factual statement about him that could be evaluated as true or false, and it was a private letter, so not "published".
2007-08-03 17:32:54 · answer #3 · answered by coragryph 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It does not constitute defamation of character because the letter was addressed to your husband relative to his duties as an employee of the company. It was intended to explain what your husband needs to fulfill before the company can approve his leave of absence or resignation.
2007-08-03 17:41:04 · answer #4 · answered by Belen 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can't begin to answer this question without full information.
2007-08-03 17:32:12 · answer #5 · answered by Mary W 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋