#0, What is slander in terms of the legal meaning?
Posted by Miranda on May-03-02 at 08:44 PM
The Ramseys have successfully sued for slander in many cases. I am a bit baffled by what constitutes slander in terms of the legal meaning. The Burke cases were easy to sue for because Burke has been legally cleared by the BPD. The Ramseys successfully sued Steve Thomas, and there are many reasons why I think they were able to successfully sue, but I do not know if any one particular reason was a "slam dumk" in the case. <P>Chandra Levy's parents say they are suspicious of Gary Condit, but they do not come right out and say he is definitely guilty. Their lawyer may have told them that it was not slander to state that you are suspicious of someone.<P>Some people on the forums say that everyone is entitled to an opinion, therefore expressing an opinion is not legal slander. <P>So does anyone have a clear idea of what slander is in terms of legalities? <BR>
#1, Does this help?
Posted by tipper on May-04-02 at 02:25 PM
In response to message #0
<a href="http://www.netlawlibraries.com/jurinst/ji_007.html#7.00";>http://www.netlawlibraries.com/jurinst/ji_007.html#7.00<;/a> <P> .] <P>…<BR>PUBLICATION<BR>A "publication" of defamatory matter is its communication to a person other than the plaintiff, who understands its defamatory meaning and its application to the plaintiff. To be a publication, the communication also must be made intentionally or negligently.<BR><BR><BR> &pip; TOP &pip; <P>
#2, Context
Posted by Dave on May-07-02 at 06:55 PM
In response to message #0
I read something interesting lately that pertains to Internet discussion groups such as this forum. Apparently a lot of libel/slander cases filed against posters and web sites hosting Internet forums are being thrown out. The reasoning is that not only is what is said to be considered in such cases, but also the context in which it is said or written. Internet forums are purportedly considered to be places where heated arguments arise at the drop of a hat, so what is said (written) is regarded as having been said in anger or with some other strong emotion attached rather than intended to be testimony, so to speak, about the truth of a matter. <P>For example, suppose that, in an argument on the street, a lot of yelling takes place, then one of the participants in the argument screams to another, "You're mother wears Army boots!" (or something even worse, if you can imagine anything worse than that). This person cannot be successfully sued for slander because of the context. It is improper to assume that the person was claiming that this was a true statement; it was an insult made during an argument, not intended to be truthful testimony about someone's attire. And it is to be assumed that no one takes such statements seriously.<P>So in a way, the hotheads are doing us all a favor in helping our little discussions to be classified as heated arguments by crazed and obsessed individuals. Nor should we complain when no one takes us seriously; this cloud has its silver lining.<BR> <BR>
#3, Tipper and Dave
Posted by Miranda on May-07-02 at 11:09 PM
In response to message #2
Thank you for the information. <P>Altogether, it seems like there are very vague distinctions about what slander really is.
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