Is it libel? Should I sue?
In the spring, I ran for school board. I sent a campaign email to everyone who works at the school, and I got a pretty ugly reply the day before the election from an employee that doesn’t like me. It wasn’t the reply that bothered me so much, as the fact that she sent it as a reply-all, so it went to everyone at the school. In it, she called me vindictive and malicious, among other things said. I lost the election and I feel that the emails (there was more than one) were part of the reason. Does this attack on my character constitute as libel, and am I within my rights to sue? Would it even be worth suing?
For clarification sake- I sent my email to an administrator and asked her to forward it to the employees, because they had done it with another campaigner. Also, when the person sent the first reply-all, I responded that I would meet with her and then she responded to everyone once again that I was vindictive and malicious. She mentioned things in both letters that she would not be able to argue out of that she didn’t write it or didn’t mean to send it. In fact, she mentioned that she sent it to everyone because she didn’t want any misunderstandings about what she had said to me.
Posted on September 2nd, 2009 in Law & Ethics |
September 4th, 2009 at 9:37 pm
No, it would not be worth it to sue. You will find that throughout life that you will encounter people that don’t like you, but you just can’t go wine and sue everybody that does not like you.
September 7th, 2009 at 7:27 am
1) As written defamation of character, yes, it would qualify as libel.
2) However, proving that a given statement was written by a certain person is very difficult for documents online.
3) She can claim someone else wrote the electronic mail instead of herself, for example. Or that she hit the “Reply All” button by mistake.
4) If you sent a mass e-mail without asking people first, that act in itself can get you in trouble in some jurisdictions. It’s a violation of privacy to do so with people who don’t agree to it.
5) The ideal way would be sending mail using a blind carbon copy, so people don’t see each other addresses. However, you’d need for them to give permission to do so. Sending BCC mass e-mails is punishable with a fine.
6) If you could get that person to admit in front of credible witnesses that she in fact did send that e-mail, and that she sent it to all knowingly, and the things said in the e-mail constitute defamation of character (are, in fact, lies and you can prove it), then you do have a case.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:07 am
The only way to correctly answer your question is to know exactly (WORD FOR WORD) what the email contained. Otherwise, no one can answer your question.
September 7th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
What is Libel?
“Untrue. In order to be defamatory, the statement must be untrue. If the statement is true or substantially true, then it is not defamatory, and the case is over. ”
So if you’ve ever done anything to this person or around this person that was malicious or vindictive or could be percieved as such you’ve just lost your case.
“Damaging. In order for the plaintiff to prevail, the statement must have caused real and substantial harm to the person or business. The plaintiff must present evidence of the substantial harm done.”
In this case you could probably sho that damage may have been done, but unless you can proove that you would have won the election if the emails hadn’t been sent you can’t really proove damages.
“Knowingly false. The plaintiff must also show that the defendant knew the statement was untrue, but published or broadcast the statement despite that knowledge. ”
So if the person writing these things actually believed that you were malicious and vindictive you have no case.
quotes from
“In New York Times Co. v. Sullivan, the Court held that in order to recover damages a public person (as a celebrity or politician) who alleges libel (as by a newspaper) has to prove that “the statement was made with `actual malice’ — that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not” in order to recover damages. The Court has also held that the states cannot allow a private person to recover damages for libel against a media defendant without a showing of fault (as negligence) on the defendant’s part. These protections do not apply to matters that are not of public concern (as an individual’s credit report) and that are not published by a member of the mass media. A libel plaintiff must generally establish that the alleged libel refers to him or her specifically, that it was published to others, and that some injury (as to reputation) occurred that gives him or her a right to recover damages (as actual, general, presumed, or special damages). The defendant may plead and establish the truth of the statements as a defense. Criminal libel may have additional elements, as in tending to provoke a breach of peace or in blackening the memory of someone who is dead, and may not have to be published to someone other than the person libeled. ”
from
My advice would be to talk to this person and find out why the thinks those things about you. Honestly, suing for libel over a school board race will make you look vindictive and malicious. Look at your own actions and speech in the recent past, maybe at some point you appeared to act in a manner which is uncharacteristic for you. In the game of politics perception is everything, you need to make sure that you’re acting in a way that makes people percieve you as you want to be percieved.