What is Defamation?
Defamation Lawyers
O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors offer a specialised defamation legal team, that can offer an expert and personalised service.
Our defamation lawyers are affordable and have won some of Sydney and Australia’s most prominent cases.
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Our lawyers are specialists in defamation law. We help safeguard our client’s reputation using defamation law. However, defamation law in NSW is a tricky legal subject. There are a number of questions around defamation, including:
- Knowing who can defame someone,
- Understanding who can be a target of defamation,
- And understanding the potential compensation for defamation.
What is defamation?
Defamation is when someone’s reputation suffers damage by false statements, either spoken (slander) or written (libel) by another person or business. The guilty person must also say the false statement to one or more third parties. So if, someone says something false to you alone, that is not defamation.
Defamatory statements are likely to damage your reputation by:
- Exposing you to shame, ridicule/hatred,
- lowering others’ estimation of you or,
- causing others avoid or shun you.
What is the difference between libel and slander?
In NSW, state and territory courts govern defamation cases. Defamation is normally a civil matter in Australia. Therefore, criminal defamation charges are rare.
A defamation lawyer’s goal is usually to seek an apology and damages on behalf of their client. Also, taking down the defamatory content and preventing its repetition are also very important aims of the defamation trial. However, legal proceedings are not always necessary for defamation. Usually, they are settled out of court.
Before we dive further into the subject, let’s determine exactly what defamation is.
What qualifies defamation?
For defamation to occur, two things must happen, including:
- Someone makes a statement about you to another person, or within earshot, or online,
- And the statement can potentially diminish others’ opinions of you or your small business.
Even if only one person hears it, or reads it, you can seek legal action.
Suing for defamation
Individuals or small businesses can sue both the originator of the defamatory message and anyone who “published” it. In defamation matters, “publishing” includes private conversations, social media posts, or even a single person overhearing the statement.
While this makes it sound like a lot of things could be defamatory statements, the effect of the statement is crucial. A court considers what impact the statement has on the targeted person or business.
What is the difference between slander and libel for defamation?
Defamation can be spoken (slander) or written (libel). The distinction between slander and libel exists but it is not that important in legal terms. Therefore, regardless of the form, defamation is defamation.
Intent is also unimportant. Above all, the focus is on the harm caused by the statement.
Suing Internet companies for defamation
In NSW, defamatory comments keep popping up on platforms like Facebook and Google. As a result, victims have sued these companies for their involvement.
However, Google and Facebook use the “honest opinion” defence for user-generated content a lot. Basically, this defence applies if:
- the opinion is honest,
- justified in the public interest,
- cand based on substantially true material.
What is serious harm in defamation?
Changes to the Defamation Act came into effect on July 1, 2021. The aim of these reforms is to prevent unimportant or trivial defamation claims which can be very costly and time-consuming. One important change involves the addition of a new requirement called the “serious harm” element. Therefore, a defamation claim must show that the published defamatory information has caused or is likely to cause serious harm to the person’s reputation.
The judge, not a jury, is responsible for determining whether serious harm exists. Additionally, a judge may rely only on the initial legal documents without requiring additional evidence.
While the serious harm element is crucial, its definition is not crystal clear and varies.
Defences to defamation
Defences to defamation include:
- Justification,
- Absolute privilege,
- Public documents,
- Fair reports of public proceedings,
- Qualified privilege,
- Honest opinion,
- Innocent dissemination,
- And triviality.
Also, a name does not have to appear for someone to sue for defamation. As long as others can tell who it is. Furthermore, anyone who spreads/repeats the defamatory statement might be guilty too. Therefore, businesses, media outlets, and social media platforms, after often hit with defamation cases.
Defamation cases are complicated, so seeking legal advice from a qualified solicitor is very important.
Contacting a defamation lawyer
When you contact O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors, we’ll book you in for a free initial consultation with our Senior Defamation Solicitor, Stewart O’Connell.
In this 15-minute consultation, you will receive personalised advice on your situation. Stewart will also advise you of your options and next steps.
In most cases, the first step is to write a ‘concerns notice’ to the publisher expressing the concern and asking for them to take action to remedy it.
This would usually be in the form of:
- Removing the article,
- Publishing an apology,
- Paying compensation,
- And paying legal costs.
This is something that we do on behalf of our clients. In conclusion, if you have been defamed, contact us today. Our defamation lawyers have helped clients seek justice from media houses, individuals, and companies.
