Key 1 Terms 2 Laws and Acts 3 Cases MML Test 2 Notes Chapter 4 Libel Libel law was left to the states until the mid 1960 s when the Supreme Court federalized basic elements Now libel law is a legal thicket THE LIBEL LANDSCAPE Defamation or libel is what lawyers call a tort or a civil wrong Allegations of libel are the basis of about 2 3 of all legal complaints filed against mass media defendants in a year Libel is the publication or broadcast of any statement that o Injures someone s reputation o Lowers that person s esteem in the community A lot of libel cases especially those stemming from the internet are settled out of court Libel laws apply uniformly regardless of medium but mainstream press newspaper magazine broadcast station enjoy some 1A protection that does not extend to defamation in blogs press releases facebook etc Libel suits are particularly bad for press bc o The protracted nature of many libel cases plus the high cost of defending against such suits can result in a heavy financial burden on the defendant o Plaintiffs often make outrageous damage claims and at times even win enormous damage awards o Libel law is especially complicated and often confusing to the point that sometimes jurors and even judges don t understand the law and make erroneous decisions o Some plaintiffs file frivolous libel lawsuits to try to silence their critics in the press and the public TIME AND MONEY Libel cases are complex and can take a lot of time and thus a lot of Examples Knight Ridder Company suit Consumer Reports suit Den of Thieves suit Washington Post suit DAMAGES SOUGHT AND WON plaintiffs sometimes claim exaggerated damage and seek extraordinary sums 1994 Phillip Morris Co sought 10 billion from ABC eventually awarded 3 million and public apology Examples Church of Scientology v Time Warner Mass Judge V Boston Herald 3 4 Mill for libel claiming he made insensitive remarks about rape victim Illinois Supreme Court justice awarded 7 mill in libel damages by jury judge lowered to 4 mill Often judge or appellate court will lower the amounts THE LIBEL PUZZLE Likelihood of libel suits is very high because o Higher volume of words and pictures transmitted o Editing process diluted due to budget cutbacks o Timeliness pushes stories into press faster without proper consideration o Bloggers have neither ability nor inclination to consider potential libel Libel law is based on traditional common law but infused with statutory and constitutional elements Mistakes often made a trials bc libel law is so complicated can be corrected in appeal Lawyers representing press follow strategy o Try to have case dismissed before trial o If not try to settle out of court Why is it more likely that press loses libel cases o Law is complex and errors are sometimes made by jurors and judges o Important libel defenses are anchored in the 1A an abstract concept to many people A juror can often see damage to a person s reputation much more clearly than the theoretical value inherent in the freedom of the press o The mass media today are not held in high regard by a great many people in the nation Jurors want to shoot the messenger express their frustrations by awarding damages to plaintiff THE LAWSUIT AS A WEAPON In typical libel suit the plaintiff initiates the suit to o Repair any damage to reputation o Collect money damages to compensate for the harm to reputation In the last quarter century new libel suit has emerged called SLAPP suits Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation the plaintiff is more interested in blocking defendant from further harmful comments than winning damages It is not important for the plaintiff to win these cases most don t expect to but they hope costly defense will silence their critics Legal system has devised a means to thwart such lawsuits called anti SLAPP statutes or Citizen Participation Acts they permit a defendant to ask a judge to dismiss the complaint immediately Judges then take a two step examination o First the defendant must convince the court the challenged activity arose from a constitutionally protected activity on that focused on a matter of public interest If the court agrees then the plaintiff must convince them that he has brought a legally sufficient claim o Then the court must consider whether the plaintiff can establish facts to meet burden of proof and whether there are defenses that would likely defeat the libel suit About half the states have such anti SLAPP laws RESOLVING THE PROBLEM typical libel cases average at 4 years of litigation the publication of apologies retractions has become more common defusing many disputes that could have ended in court Laws have been adopted in 30 states that reward the press for publishing corrections retractions LAW OF DEFAMATION In Europe libel suits are less common because if a newspaper defames a person that person has the right to use the columns of the same newspaper to tell his side of the story right to reply Libel law is essentially state law The law of defamation includes both libel written defamation and slander oral defamation In most states libel and slander are treated the same ELEMENTS OF LIBEL Definitions of defamation Common and important elements of defamation o Defamation is a communication which exposes a person to hatred ridicule or contempt lowers him in the esteem of his fellows causes him to be shunned or injures him in his business or calling Libel by Phelps and Hamilton o Libel is a communication which has the tendency to so harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating with him Restatement of the Law of Torts by American Law Institute o Defamation is a communication that damages the reputation of a person but not necessarily the individual s character Your character is what you are your reputation is what people think of you Reputation is what law protects pleading of a loss of self esteem is not sufficient to win damages in a libel suit o To be actionable defamation the words must actually damage a reputation There must be proof offered that the individual s reputation was harmed This is hard to prove but jury is also more willing to just accept that it has Being libel proof means that your reputation is already so low no one can really reduce it further E g Dr Kevorkian The most common type of libel proof plaintiffs are convicted criminals E g David L Williams o At least a significant minority of the
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