Defamation, Libel, Slander

[shodan]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NC
Employer: Large Bank
Incident Summary: A manager of authority wrote an email to my mgr, and his mgr (two levels above me)...he also copied another SVP and two other VP's on this email. The content of the email made false statements about my lack of responsiveness to a request. It accused me of unethical behavior. And it accussed me of circumventing the author to achieve a certain result.

HR is involved, and it appears that the author of this email has a bit of a history of this type of behavior.

This email was addressed to 5 people who have a direct impact on my ability for career growth and financial gain. The information in the email was wrong - I can prove that via 12 months worth of email trail ( I keep everything!

My reputation is damaged. The false information was 'published' to 5 people via email. I have a stellar, documented work record of over 20 years with this company.

Thoughts? I guess I'm asking if this is a case that I should pursue?

 

[quincy]

Who told you about the emails? What has been the actual impact?

Do the people who received the emails believe what the contents of the email communicated about you? Do these managers and VPs, in other words, treat you differently because of what this "manager of authority" wrote to them about you?

Have you lost a promotion; have you lost your job or have you been reassigned to a different, perhaps lower-level, job; have you lost clients? Has your income been reduced? Have certain responsibilities been taken away from you? Are you being shunned by anyone in management (or co-workers) as a direct result of the email having been sent?

Or do the recipients of the email look at this email as just another piece of this author/manager's "history" of doing such things, as HR noted?

Certainly by emailing several people, the author of the email has published the comments to more people than are probably necessary, if the purpose of the email was only to request a review of or investigation into your work.

Whether something has been published to a "third party" or not, the statements made in the email are not actionable if you only fear that the accusations contained in the email may impact your future in the company at some point in time, but there has been no apparent sign that this has occurred.

Demonstrable reputational injury is a necessary element for any defamation action.

What I recommend is that you wait to hear from HR first. You can certainly sit down with a defamation attorney to review the entire matter now, but I do not see (depending on the answers to some of the questions I asked above) any action worth pursuing (yet).

 

[shodan]

thanks..

Great information.....thanks!

 

[quincy]

I'm afraid I posed more questions than provided answers, but I am glad you found it useful. Good luck.

 

[shodan]

another thought...

OK...now this may be more emotion-based, but....

First off...direct 'shunning' by mgmt will be hard to measure. Sr Mgmt will certainly have teh common sense to shrug this off as a nasty email, and state that it is not being taken seriously and will not affect me.

In the real world, however, office politics and all...my name will carry with it the residue of this nasty gram. But that residue is not easily measured.

So... the emotional part...I'm angry. I'm considering sending a response to the email author stating something like..."...based on your comments and opinions, is it fair to say that I would not be considered as a candidate for a career path in your organization....".

If he's stupid enough to reply and say yes...THAN....I got him...right?

 

[shodan]

...

OK...and I know just enough to be dangerous .

In North Carolina, the law has a broad definition of Libe per se, or Defamation per se.
In NC, a statement that does any of the following amounts to Libel per se:

- tends to impeach a person in that persons trade or profession.
(there's 3 other conditions..but they are not related).

A plaintiff must prove that the defendant was at least negligent with respect to the truth or falsity of the alledge defamatory remark.

NC has some funny little twists to their laws

Anything to work with here? (yes, I am determined
THks

 

[quincy]

First, I recommend that you do NOT write or say anything to the manager about the email. That will probably not benefit you in any way and can, instead, wind up being detrimental to your position with the company. Let HR deal with it. There will be an opportunity for you to address the manager on the issue at a later date.

If you are determined to bring a defamation action against this manager, however, then, yes, you do have a few things to work with here and a lawyer can walk you through all of the possibilities, based on the facts of your situation.

You are right that reputational injury is difficult to demonstrate unless there is an obvious and direct out-of-pocket money loss. Defamatory comments injure a reputation in ways far greater than monetary losses, though. Once a defamatory comment is made, people tend to associate the defamed person with the comments, whether they want to or not.

So, while all outward appearances may lead one to believe that no damage has been done, there is no way to accurately gauge how the defamatory comments are affecting decisions made about a defamed individual or how attitudes toward the defamed individual have changed. That is why some defamatory comments are considered
"defamation per se" - and with these comments, some reputational injury is presumed.

Defamation per se does cover certain comments that impugn the skill, financial capacity, fitness, honesty or ethical standards of an individual in his profession. If the manager in his email challenged your ethical standards and honesty, then some reputational injury may be presumed under North Carolina law. You would not have to demonstrate this injury, in other words.

One problem you could face with a defamation action at this point, however, is that a single accusation of mistake in judgment or action is often not enough to support a defamation claim, especially when you have 20 years with the company with no prior complaints filed against you. If the email detailed only one incident where the manager questioned your actions or ethics, it would not necessarily be enough to impair your overall reputation with the company.

The entire email should be reviewed, then, to see how general the comments made about you are - the more general the comments, the more damaging they could potentially be. If, for instance, the manager questions your ethical standards in general and not just in this one specific incident, then the email is more reputationally damaging and you would have a better chance of bringing a successful defamation action against him.

I still recommend that you wait for HR to come to some sort of conclusion, however you can take a copy of the email to an attorney for review in the meantime, and the attorney can give you a better idea of whether there is a defamation action worth pursuing here. Defamation actions are extremely expensive and can, in their own right, be reputationally injurious and damaging to one's employment. It is an action that must be considered very carefully, especially since there is never a guarantee of winning a suit.

 

[shodan]

Update

Here's where things are now. I opend an HR Case. HR see's a history of similar issues from this email author. HR used these terms to describe the email - "workplace uncivlity" and "career assassination attempt".

I did mention this before...but I had sent the email author a request about 2-3 weeks prior to his email at me....my request was for an answer to an issue that he had not responded to. It was polite and professional, and it had my mgmt cc'd on it. The author denied ever reveiving original requests...and may have gotten angry. Perhaps his last email was an act of retaliation.... (yes, I've been reading more law .

Defamation per se alone is difficult, but not impossible to prove...especially in NC. But Defamation usually occurs as a retalitory act.

I don't give up! thks

 

[quincy]

It sounds like HR is calling the email the author/manager sent defamatory, as well, by labeling it a "career assassination attempt."

An issue that complicates any defamation action against the manager that you may be considering is that he has, apparently, a history known already to HR, and one that the other managers are probably aware of, too. It is very possible, therefore, that this attempt by him to damage your reputation has, instead, merely further damaged his.

At any rate, post back with updates.

 

[shodan]

we'll see

I've asked for a retraction and apology from the email author...in writing to the original audience. I've also asked that an email trace be investigated so that I know who else the email was forwarded to...and if an blind copy's happened. The email author is smug....I have low expectations for the apology...but we'll see.

Frankly....I want to sue the guy....I have a call into a lawyer to see if he'll consult on the issue....and of course, I've posted on Legalmatch and here.

So...now it's your turn...just tell me I'll win and I'll be happy!

 

[quincy]

Ha. Although I never like to make people unhappy, I am afraid I cannot guarantee you will win any defamation action.

Asking for an apology from the manager, and asking that he send retraction emails, was smart - although, like you, I am not convinced this "smug" author/manager will comply with your requests.

Consulting with an attorney is smart, as well. He can let you know better whether any defamation suit is worth pursuing.

Good luck.