Articles Posted in Defamation, Libel and Slander

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In order to file a lawsuit against an individual or organization alleging violation of the law, the plaintiff must be able to allege specific and clear violations of the law, as well as actual damages the plaintiff suffered as a result of the alleged violation. This is as true of defamation lawsuits as it is of any other law.

Although the First Amendment protects every citizen’s right to free speech, it does not allow public statements about other people who are public figures that are intentionally or deliberately false and accuse of them of certain types of misconduct and prohibits false statements against ordinary people that wrongly accuse them of certain types of misconduct. In order to be considered defamatory, a statement has to be made publicly, and with the result that the target suffered damage to their public reputation and/or career. Opinions and general rhetoric do not qualify as defamation. Continue reading ›

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With steroids running rampant in the world of professional athletes, many people just assume that most, if not all, prominent athletes are using some sort of drug (or drugs) to artificially enhance their performance. At the same time, many people who idolize certain athletes and look up to them as role models are crushed when they find out these athletes have been taking drugs to gain an unfair advantage. The field of professional athletes is extremely competitive, and when millions of dollars are on the line, the temptation to do whatever it takes to be the best can sometimes be too much to resist.

But all artificial performance enhancers are banned from professional sports. As a result, when an athlete is caught using illegal drugs, it usually means the end of their career. Because using the drugs is both immoral and illegal, any accusation of drug use must be taken very seriously. Continue reading ›

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An injunction against speech harms not just the speakers but also the listeners (in this case the viewers and readers). “[T]he First Amendment goes beyond protection of the press and the self-expression of individuals to prohibit government from limiting the stock of information from which members of the pub-lic may draw.” First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti, 435 U.S. 765, 783 (1978); see also Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 U.S. 367, 390 (1969); Stanley v. Georgia, 394 U.S. 557, 564 (1969) (“the Constitution protects the right to receive information and ideas”). The injunction in this case is so broad and vague that it threatens to silence Fuller and Hartman completely.

The issue of whether an injunction can ever issue to forbid even defamatory speech from being published, even after a court has determined such speech to be defamatory, has never been decided by the Supreme Court.  Without deciding this issue, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals discussed it in detail in a recent opinion, McCarthy v Fuller.  You can view the opinion here. Continue reading ›

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Despite the schoolyard saying, words can hurt you. Negative information that gets spread through the public can affect both your personal and professional lives, which is why legislators have taken steps to protect citizens from language that has the potential to be harmful.

But the U.S. Constitution promises all its citizens the right to free speech. This is because the founders of our country wanted the people to feel safe to criticize public figures, including politicians. The idea is that, if people feel free to criticize public figures, it allows public discussion of those figures. The law asserts the people’s right to free and open discussion of the people they are voting to govern them because uninhibited discussion allows the people to make the most informed decisions when they go to the voting polls. Continue reading ›

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The Internet has done a lot of wonderful things for us, including facilitating communication beyond what most people would have ever thought possible. This has proven to be both good and bad as people have the opportunity, not only to communicate with each other, but with the entire world regarding everything from national news to what they ate for breakfast.

When people talk about an organization or person online, it can frequently cause problems for the organization or individuals being talked about. It’s well known that the people who write online reviews are rarely the people who had a mediocre experience. It tends to be those who had an excellent or a terrible experience and that can result in a skewed online presentation of the organization or person. Continue reading ›

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The line between freedom of speech and defamation can be a fine line at times. Although the First Amendment to the United States Constitution allows us to speak our minds, it does not give us total immunity when saying things that have the potential to seriously damage another person’s reputation and/or career.

That line is again being contested in a current defamation lawsuit against Bill Cosby. Three women, Tamara Green, Therese Serignese, and Linda Traitz, who are just three of dozens of women who claim they were sexually assaulted by Cosby decades ago are now filing a lawsuit against the entertainer for defamation.

The lawsuit alleges Cosby’s representatives damaged their reputations by denying their allegations of sexual assault in language that was sometimes disparaging. They claim their accusations were dismissed as “ridiculous claims” and “absurd fabrications” to give two of the shorter alleged remarks. The lawsuit alleges these comments were intended to discredit the victims. One statement allegedly touched on Traitz’s criminal and personal record to discredit her allegations. Continue reading ›

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Our Chicago libel and slander lawyers concentrate in this area of the law. We have defended or prosecuted a number of defamation and libel cases, including cases representing a consumer sued by a large luxury used car dealer in federal court for hundreds of negative internet reviews and videos which resulted in substantial media coverage of the suit; one of Loyola University’s largest contributors when the head basketball coach sued him for libel after he was fired; and a lawyer who was falsely accused of committing fraud with the false allegation published to the Dean of the University of Illinois School of Law, where the lawyer attended law school and the President of the University of Illinois. One of our partners also participated in representing a high profile athlete against a well-known radio shock jock.

Our Chicago defamation attorneys defend individuals’ First Amendment and free speech rights to post on Facebook, Yelp and other websites information that criticizes businesses and addresses matters of public concern. Our Chicago Cybersquatting attorneys also represent and prosecute claims on behalf of businesses throughout the Chicago area including in Carol Stream and Glen Elyn and Elmhurst, who have been unfairly and falsely criticized by consumers and competitors in defamatory publications in the online and offline media. We have successfully represented businesses who have been the victim of competitors setting up false rating sites and pretend consumer rating sites that are simply forums to falsely bash or business clients. We have also represented and defended consumers First Amendment and free speech rights to criticize businesses who are guilty of consumer fraud and false advertising.

Continue reading ›

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Anyone who runs for office would be well-advised to prepare themselves for some mud-slinging. Anyone who lives in the United States cannot help but be exposed to political candidates accusing each other of various indiscretions and dishonesties. These harmful statements are allowed to go unchecked because of the freedom of speech granted to all citizens of the United States under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Although intentionally defaming an individual can be punished under the law, there are limits to the instances in which this can happen. Most courts will protect language referring to a public figure, such as a celebrity or politician, because allowing free speech about public figures is considered to be in the public’s best interest. Promoting free discussion helps keep citizens informed about people and events that could potentially affect them.  Continue reading ›

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In the United States, the law states that anyone accused of committing a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, the public has a tendency to make up its own mind before all of the facts are available. Because of this, a lawsuit, if its allegations are untrue or not based on evidence, can in certain instances do serious damage to the reputation of a person or corporation, even if the lawsuit is ultimately unsuccessful.

One example of this is defendants who are accused of sexual assault. Just the accusation is enough to render the defendant a social leper. When a person’s reputation has sustained severe damage as a result of false accusations made outside the context of lawsuit, that person has the option of recovering those damages by filing a defamation lawsuit.

The problem with defamation lawsuits is that the courts have to walk a fine line between protecting the rights of the individual and protecting the right to free speech. Generally, private citizens have a higher chance of recovering damages from a defamation lawsuit, as the right to discuss public figures is considered to be in the best interest of the public. However, if the plaintiff can prove that the defamatory statements were false, and that the defendant knew they were false, courts will generally rule in favor of the plaintiff.

When a teacher is accused of sexually assaulting a student, it can be very difficult, if not impossible, for that teacher to ever find work again. As a result, a teacher who is wrongly accused of sexual assault, if the accusations are published outside the confines of a privileged setting such as a lawsuit or criminal complaint, can file a defamation lawsuit to recover damages for lost employment opportunities. This is exactly what Peter Ludlow, a philosophy professor at Northwestern University, has done.  The student involved contests these claims. Continue reading ›

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No one likes being the scapegoat in a messy situation. Unfortunately, when large companies lose a lot of money, or don’t make as much as they had anticipated, their first recourse is often to find someone to blame. In the case of Walgreens’s recent $1 billion alleged forecasting error, the company’s CFO at the time, Wade Miquelon, became the alleged scapegoat.

According to reports, Miquelon made an alleged forecasting error that required Walgreens to cut its forecast of pharmacy unit earnings for the year 2016 from $8.5 billion down to $7.4 billion. After the alleged forecasting error, Miquelon and another executive at Walgreens lost their jobs, but Miquelon tells a different alleged story which Walgreens denies.

According to the former CFO, he was not fired from his position. In fact, he claims he was offered a promotion and told that, if he accepted it, he would be in line to succeed Gregory Wasson as Walgreens’s CEO. Instead of taking that opportunity, Miquelon says he left his position “to pursue opportunities outside of Walgreens”. Thanks to accusations made by Wasson and other Walgreens executives though, Miquelon’s opportunities outside of Walgreens have allegedly been severely restricted. Continue reading ›

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