Chapter 5

Libel

Traditionally, libel was thought of as printed defamation, as opposed to spoken, which is slander. Libelous statements are untrue and cause harm.

Slander

Traditionally, slander was thought of as spoken defamation, as opposed to libel, which was written defamation

Negligence

Breach of a duty that results in a reasonably foreseeable harm

Qualified Privilege

statement may or may not be the basis for a libel cause of action, based on the specific facts. EX: given to journalists to fairly & accurately report the contents of a police report even if it contains harmful untruths

Summary Judgement

A final judgement for one party w/o trial when a court finds wither no material fact is in dispute, or when the law alone clearly establishes on party's claim

Innocent construction rules

A rule some courts use to interpret allegedly libelous statements that might have multiple interpretations according to the most innocent interpretation, or the one that most favors the defendant.

Actual Damages

AKA compensatory damages, this is the monetary compensation designed to remedy the losses suffered by the plaintiff

Criminal Libel

An antiquated crime in which a publisher could be charged with defamation by the government. In modern U.S. jurisprudence, the crime of criminal libel does not exist.

Libel per se

Consists of those words which in and of themselves are so damaging as to be considered defamatory, meaning use of the words is prima fascia evidence of defamatory language.

Libel per quod

Consists of words or phrases that require contextualization in order to identify the harm

Publication

For the purpose of a libel claim, the term publication refers to any dissemination of a defamatory statement, not strictly in print. In order to damage someone's reputation, a defamatory remark must be made public.

Defamation

Holding up of a person to ridicule, scorn,, or contempt to a respectable and considerable part of the community

Falsity

In libel law, a defendant can't be found liable for defamation unless his/her statement was false.

Identification

In libel law, plaintiffs must show that they were identifiable from the libelous material.

Limited purpose public figure

In libel law, plaintiffs that aren't otherwise public figures might be considered to be if they have gained notoriety by voluntarily injecting themselves into a matter of public controversy in attempt to influence the outcome.

Defamatory Language

In libel law, the plaintiff must show that the libelous materia was defamatory, meaning it asserts an untrue fact that would cause harm to the plaintiff's reputation in the mind of "right thinking persons."

Actual Malice

The requirement in cases of libel against public officials that the publisher acted w/ knowledge of falsity or a reckless disregard for the truth.

Punitive Damages

This type of damage award is not intended to make the plaintiff whole, but to act as an additional deterrent to the type of conduct the plaintiff engaged in.

Privilege

is an affirmative defense in which the defendant asserts a justification for having defamed the plaintiff

Absolute Privilege

means a privilege statement cant be the basis for a libel cause of action. EX: privilege given to legislators in their formal deliberation.

Neutral reportage

this is recognized as a defense to libel which asserts that, so long as a medium accurately recounts all sides of an argument, it acts as a neutral conveyor of info & should not be responsible