I recently found out that for the past year, an acquaintance of mine has been telling friends, family, and customers of hers that I was her fiancé. While not horrible on its own, she has apparently told countless false stories, about how I would abuse drugs, have illicit relationships with prostitutes, physically and mentally abuse her, and so forth. I am a medical professional, and while I don't think any of this has harmed my business or professional life, I feel violated and upset. I have tried to contact her several times about this but she refuses to speak. This occurred in Rhode Island, I live in Boston.
What are my options as far as the law? Where any criminal laws broken? Is there anything I can bring a suit against her for? Any help is appreciated.
Your legal recourse, when falsehoods are told about you that affect your reputation in a demonstrable way, is to sue the one telling the lies for defamation.
Because the lies were spread about you in Rhode Island, you could potentially sue the acquaintance in Rhode Island, or, if you reside in Boston, you could sue in Massachusetts if the greatest harm to your reputation is realized there.
Whether there is enough to support a defamation claim against the acquaintance, however, depends on many factors, including how negatively the words have affected you in your profession, your community, with your family, with your friends.
Although Rhode Island recognizes defamation per se (under which many of the statements about you could fall), the statements could also be considered rhetorical hyperbole depending on how they were communicated, to whom they were communicated, and for what purpose they were communicated.
You can consult with an attorney in your area. Perhaps having the attorney draft and send a cease and desist letter to the acquaintance, advising the acquaintance of possible legal action should the falsehoods continue, can halt the spread of lies.
(FlyingRon, do you think you could find a different story to tell? I think I have heard this Louis Nizer one from you about a thousand times.
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