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  1. #1
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    Default How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    My question involves defamation in the state of: California

    How are damages assessed in a defamation suit ? For instance, if a person (say X) is well known in a certain field / industry and someone else alleges that X is mentally ill, and should therefore be ignored / dismissed as "useless", would that constitute defamation ? The damages here are that no one takes X seriously anymore and he stops being an authority in that field (losing his influence & credibility as a result).

    Also, does the allegation / assertion of mental illness constitute defamation per se wherein no damages need be proven ?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: A Question of Damages

    I'd think that if X is truly well known in the industry, then most people would laugh it off.

    Hyperbole is tricky - you can write a blog and say "OMGZ X is such a meanie I bet he used to kick kittens!", and chances are it would be deemed hyperbole and not meant to be taken seriously.

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    Default Re: A Question of Damages

    Quote Quoting Dogmatique
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    I'd think that if X is truly well known in the industry, then most people would laugh it off.

    Hyperbole is tricky - you can write a blog and say "OMGZ X is such a meanie I bet he used to kick kittens!", and chances are it would be deemed hyperbole and not meant to be taken seriously.
    That is probably true. However, my main query is if an allegation of mental illness is defamation per se ?

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    Default Re: A Question of Damages

    Okay, let me put it another way.

    It can be.

    Actual facts, circumstances, and all that.

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    Default Re: A Question of Damages

    my main query is if an allegation of mental illness is defamation per se ?

    In some situations it can be. In other situations it is not.

    If you want a more concrete answer, you will have to provide some concrete facts. The question you are asking does not have a black and white, carved in stone, one-size-fits-all answer.

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    Default Re: How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    Expert law 2 defamation per se

    Quote Quoting TroubledHell
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    My question involves defamation in the state of: California

    Also, does the allegation / assertion of mental illness constitute defamation per se wherein no damages need be proven ?
    Assuming the falsity of the statement; that it was not the expression of mere opinion; that it was not somehow privileged; and that it was made in such a context as to impugn the ability and competency of the subject to perform his or her trade, occupation or profession it could be considered defamation per se.

    Stating that a person is nuts, loony or a wacko would be one thing. Quite another would be to false state that the individual suffers from dementia due to being afflicted with neurosyphilis.

  7. #7

    Default Re: How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    Defamation can bring both actual and punitive damages -- when The National Enquirer published a story about comedian Carol Burnett being drunk in public, she claimed that it damaged her reputation and ability to get work, which represented actual damages -- the money she lost out on due to this damage. But since the NE was also liable for punitive damages, which are decided by the wealth of the defendant. The deeper the pockets, the bigger the punitive damages, regardless of the actual damages. So the answer is ... virtually limitless, depending on the wealth of the defendant.

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    Default Re: How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    Quote Quoting fletcherrhoden
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    Defamation can bring both actual and punitive damages -- when The National Enquirer published a story about comedian Carol Burnett being drunk in public, she claimed that it damaged her reputation and ability to get work, which represented actual damages -- the money she lost out on due to this damage. But since the NE was also liable for punitive damages, which are decided by the wealth of the defendant. The deeper the pockets, the bigger the punitive damages, regardless of the actual damages. So the answer is ... virtually limitless, depending on the wealth of the defendant.

    Do you really think that either party can finance such a suit?

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    Default Re: How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    If a statement is found to be defamatory per se, that allows for an action to proceed without proof of injury. The injury to one's reputation is presumed.

    However, if all you have is a showing that the statement was defamatory per se, and you have no demonstrable reputational injury (which can be shown in many ways - through an economic loss, an impairment of standing in your community, mental anguish ...), you may be awarded damages, but these damages can be as little as $1.00 in some states. With good evidence of reputational harm, on the other hand, the damages awarded can be in the millions.

    For a defamation claim, facts matter.

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    Default Re: How Much Money Can You Win in a Defamation Case

    TroubledHell, there were cases in the 1950s where false accusations of mental impairment or mental illness supported with success defamation claims. You can check out Cowper v Vannier, 20 Ill. App. 2d 499, 156 NE 2d 761 (1959) and Kenney v Hatfield, 351 Mich 498, 88 NW 2d 535 (1958) for two of the many from that period of time.

    In a better known defamation suit from 1969, Barry Goldwater (who was the Republican Party's presidential candidate at the time) was awarded $1.00 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages when he was labeled "paranoid" in an article in "Fact" magazine. The article, titled "The Unconscious of a Conservative: A Special Issue on the Mind of Barry Goldwater," gave rise to questions about Goldwater's psychological fitness to serve as president. See Goldwater v Ginsburg, 414 F.2d 324, 2d Circ, 1969.

    With that said, terms like "mentally ill" or "paranoid" would have more difficulty supporting a defamation action in the 2000s, because both are now used frequently as generic insults and are not related as fact or received as fact. Refer back to Dogmatique's earlier comment on opinion and rhetorical hyperbole. It would require a review of all of the facts of the communication to determine if a defamation suit was worth pursuing.

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