My question involves defamation in the state of: NM

Last summer, I learned that my sister was submitting an embellished claim to her insurance carrier to cover costs of property theft at her home. All the information I had was based on her own words, relayed to me by an honest parent. Since that parent was never willing to come forward to the insurance adjuster, I did so. In 2 conversations with the adjuster I relayed the information I had. N.B.: Nothing was ever relayed in writing and in a subsequent call to the adjuster, I was assured that no calls were ever recorded.

There came a time when my sister contacted the adjuster to find out why her claim hadn’t been processed and she was told that, since they had received a report of potential fraud, the claim was being rolled back for re-evaluation. Unfortunately, whereas in my initial call to the adjuster my confidentiality was assured, the adjuster gave me (and my parent) up to my sister.

Some weeks later, I received a short letter from an attorney she found claiming that I wasn’t familiar with the claim, and that my information to the adjuster was false, unsubstantiated and malicious (no specifics). The letter goes on to say that my sister is considering litigation against me for fraud and misrepresentation (nowhere are the words “libel” or “slander” mentioned). Finally, the letter says that if I attempt to contact her or anyone she does business with or her associations, she will sue me.

In its form, the letter is clearly derived from a boilerplate and is designed first and foremost to intimidate. I have read about such letters (typically costing about $100) on this forum.

I have 2 key questions:

1) Unfortunate as it is to do this for a family member, I did so for civic reasons – I detest fraud wherever I see it. As such, I was only a facilitator; the ultimate determination of fraud lies with the adjuster. So how can this whistleblowing be considered something that would expose me to a law suit? (Remember, the damaging information came directly from the perp. – nothing I conjured on my own.) In other words, how is this different from calls to Crime Stoppers?

2) Not that I would because I never have, how does some attorney have the authority to tell me whom I can and cannot contact? Doesn’t this have to come via court order? This seems tantamount to a restraining order, which must come from an appropriate court.

Any helpful thoughts are appreciated.