
Quoting
Quaere
Let me get this straight. You told your atty certain things about the defendant that may be harmful to his rep.
**We told atty about specific instances of his harrassment. Taking pics of children, yelling obscenities, pulling a gun on people... all which happened directly to us and the people present at this meeting. There are actually 3 other neighbors involved, all added at the same time as us. All have same story as us.
Your atty then repeated these allegations in a letter that she sent to the defendants landlord. Did you make these allegations to anyone other than the atty? **No/Yes? Most or all was included in a request for PPOs, which lead us to retain a lawyer. Plantiff had requested a motion for them to be put aside. We sought help from atty. In depo Plantiff states that he is not aware that anyone else (other than Landlord's attorney) received the letter. His Landlord told him that, in response to this letter, "Noone tells me who I can rent to!" and further stated he was never asked to leave or not renew his lease...
Does the original complaint include named defendants as well as “Doe defendants”? **No, original only includes our former Lawyer. Our Summons is dated approx. 21 months after letter to Landlord was sent. Date on court sticker for case against former lawyer is one year plus almost one month after date of letter.
If it does, this is why the statute of limitations has not expired. Were you made aware of the suit as soon as it was filed? ** Against former lawyer, yes. Her lawyer contacted us to be possible witnesses.
Your discussion with your atty was absolutely privileged and the claim against you should be dismissed.
From the little you’ve told us, it sounds like your atty was sued as the publisher of the letter. The atty is trying to defend herself by saying that she only wrote what YOU told her, which makes YOU the original author of the defamation. The original author is always liable for the damage caused when others repeat the defamatory statement.
Depending on what exactly happened, you may be able to turn the whole thing over to the attys insurance company. An atty should know how to write a letter without defaming someone.
As for the plaintiff’s failure to prove damages, look up “defamation per se”. There are certain kinds of defamatory statements that are so serious a plaintiff is not required to prove he suffered damage to his rep. because it is presumed. **I will look that up - thanks.
He admitted his damages are “possibly a feeling in his own head”. The key word there is “possibly”. His admission means nothing. All he is saying is he has no clear evidence of damage to his reputation. As I said, in some cases, he doesn’t need evidence.