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  1. #1
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    Default Can You Be Sued for What You Write in a Letter

    My question involves defamation in the state of: Hawaii

    Hello,

    My question is, if you are writing a private letter to a company and you say that they are an unethical and corrupt company (I truly believe that), is it considered slander?

    Thank you,
    JasonJ

  2. #2
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    Are you telling Company A that you believe they are unethical and corrupt?

    Or are you telling Company B that you believe Company A is unethical and corrupt?

  3. #3
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    Quote Quoting cbg
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    Are you telling Company A that you believe they are unethical and corrupt?

    Or are you telling Company B that you believe Company A is unethical and corrupt?
    I am telling Company A that they are unethical and corrupt.

  4. #4
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    That is not defamation, then.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    Quote Quoting cbg
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    That is not defamation, then.
    The legal issue is publication. It is clear the "corporation" is not a person. The person who reads is a person and I think publication would be made.

    Pretend the OP had some lie that would cause all the employees to quit, causing the corporation damages. I believe the letter would fulfill the publication to a third party element of defamation. Even though the letter was sent to the corporation. Even though the corporation designated the person to read it.

    Not a lot of case law on the matter. But, the key here is damages, not publication.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    No, the key here is whether the elements of defamation have been met. They have not been met if the only entity he makes the statement to is the entity itself.

    It is questionable if they would have been met even if there had been a third party since he is expressing an opinion, but if only one entity is involved defamation and all its variants are right off the table.

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Can You Be Sued for What You Write in a Letter

    Quote Quoting JasonJ
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    My question involves defamation in the state of: Hawaii

    Hello,

    My question is, if you are writing a private letter to a company and you say that they are an unethical and corrupt company (I truly believe that), is it considered slander?

    Thank you,
    JasonJ
    The person who reads the letter is not the "corporation", so that could be considered publication. But, since there are unlikely to be damages for such a statement, I think it unlikely you would be sued. It is when statements are widely publicized that a corporation suffers damages and, even if they do not, they will sometimes sue to remove the statement. (aka SLAPP)

    But, if you want a specific, legal, answer to your question if this is on a test, "no".

  8. #8
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    Default Re: Can You Be Sued for What You Write in a Letter

    Quote Quoting Welfarelvr
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    The person who reads the letter is not the "corporation", so that could be considered publication.
    I'm going to disagree with you on this. An employee of a corporation is an agent of the corporation. Under common law the acts of the agent are the acts of the corporation. An employee who is authorized to open and read mail is doing so for the corporation.

    Whoever acts through another does the act himself.

  9. #9
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    Default Re: Can You Be Sued for What You Write in a Letter

    Quote Quoting JasonJ
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    My question involves defamation in the state of: Hawaii

    Hello,

    My question is, if you are writing a private letter to a company and you say that they are an unethical and corrupt company (I truly believe that), is it considered slander?

    Thank you,
    JasonJ
    First in answer to your title question: Yes, you can be sued for what you write in a letter. But you would not be sued for "slander." Slander is the oral or spoken form of defamation. Libel is its written form.

    That said, unless in the private letter to the company you singled out a specific person or specific people as being unethical or corrupt, the private letter to the company could not be the basis of a successful defamation claim. You have caused no harm to the reputation of the company.

  10. #10
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    Default Re: Over a Letter

    Quote Quoting LawResearcherMissy
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    No, she's right. You're seriously lacking in clue.

    Writing a letter to a company to tell them they suck is not publication to a third party, any more than writing a letter to you to tell you that you suck is publication to a third party.

    It's time for you to be quiet on this topic, because you have no idea what you're talking about.

    JasonJ, the answer to your question of "Can they sue" is "Yes, they can sue." You can be sued because your neighbor doesn't like the color of your house. You can be sued because your bank teller hates your shoes. Anyone can sue anyone for anything. All "sue" means is "ask the courts to settle an argument".

    You're asking the wrong question. The question you should be asking is "Can they win?", and the answer to that is NO.

    It's not defamation to tell a company what you think of them.
    Perhaps you should do some of that Law Research and find a cite. As I already have. If you are in a law office, pick up a Hornbook and see the black letter law on the matter. Since the law has been that way from the turn of the century, I don't see any modern cases easily accessible. With your skills, I'm sure you can come up with something.

    The company is not the person. An employee of the company is not the company. Say I go to a person and call them a stinkyhead and did not know anyone else is around. But, just as I said it the parish priest entered the room and he hates stinkyheads and excommunicates the person. Did I publish the defamatory term? (Assume it is false and defamatory etc. We're talking about publication.) Say I put an unsealed envelope on stinkyheads desk and someone else comes in and reads it, was it published? Let's say the OP calls the corporation stinkyheads and the employee reading the letter shows it to the press who publishes it without authorization. Who are the publishers, just the press and employee or also the OP?

    Now, I agree the priest issue is one that is closer as accidental or non-negligent publication is not one that generally leads to liability. There, words spoken with no reason to suppose that anyone but the plaintiff would overhear them, or a sealed letter sent to the plaintiff himself which is unexpectedly opened and read by another would not be either. Note "unexpectedly". The person the letter would be sent to in this case IS NOT THE CORPORATION. He might be an employee of the corp, or an agent of the corp, but it is not the corp. There is publication.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Quoting quincy
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    First in answer to your title question: Yes, you can be sued for what you write in a letter. But you would not be sued for "slander." Slander is the oral or spoken form of defamation. Libel is its written form.

    That said, unless in the private letter to the company you singled out a specific person or specific people as being unethical or corrupt, the private letter to the company could not be the basis of a successful defamation claim. You have caused no harm to the reputation of the company.
    The lack of harm is a separate question and I have already mentioned that repeatedly. However, say there are damages. Was the letter to the company published?

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