Has slander, making false statements been "published?"

[no1texan]

Texas.
In 2014, as an employee of a church for over 4 years, I was requested to attend the meeting of the church's "HR committee" meeting. The HR committee was made up of volunteers from people in the church. At that meeting, 8 committee members were present which included the chair of the committee and the Senior Pastor of the church. The chair of the committee and the senior pastor made false statements in that committee meeting about my job performance. This was done in an angry manner and went on for about one hour and half until I became physically sick and had to leave. The following week, four days later from the committee meeting, I was fired based on the false statements in the committee meeting, all committee members heard all the statements made. Do the stating of these false statements in the presence of the committee members meet the defamation requirement for defamation? The Senior pastor was my immediate supervisor.

 

[cbg]

You did not have a cause of action the last two times you posted.

You do not have a cause of action now.

You will still not have a cause of action the next time you post.

It's time to move on.

 

[quincy]

Texas.
In 2014, as an employee of a church for over 4 years, I was requested to attend the meeting of the church's "HR committee" meeting. The HR committee was made up of volunteers from people in the church. At that meeting, 8 committee members were present which included the chair of the committee and the Senior Pastor of the church. The chair of the committee and the senior pastor made false statements in that committee meeting about my job performance. This was done in an angry manner and went on for about one hour and half until I became physically sick and had to leave. The following week, four days later from the committee meeting, I was fired based on the false statements in the committee meeting, all committee members heard all the statements made. Do the stating of these false statements in the presence of the committee members meet the defamation requirement for defamation? The Senior pastor was my immediate supervisor.

This does not sound like what you described in your earlier threads on this same matter:

https://forum.freeadvice.com/libel-slander-defamation-88/fired-job-verbal-false-charges-612202.html
https://forum.freeadvice.com/workplace-injuries-worker-s-compensation-32/terminated-job-replaced-younger-unqualified-person-612385.html

Publication is the communication of statement to a "third party," which means communicating the statement to one person other than the person about whom the statement is made.

If false statements were made about you in front of others or to others, and you suffered demonstrable reputational injury as a result, this could potentially be the basis for a defamation suit. If you are having difficulty finding another job and this difficulty can be traced back to your former employer who is making or has made false statements about you and your work as an accountant, a defamation action could potentially be something to consider - although these tend to be very expensive legal actions to pursue.

There is a one year statute of limitations for defamation claims in Texas. This means you have one year from the date of the first publication of the defamatory statement to file suit against your defamer. You could sit down with an attorney in your area to discuss your situation more fully and to go over the pros and cons of filing a suit, should the attorney determine you meet all elements necessary for a claim.

Here is a link to the Digital Media Law Project's information on defamation law in the state of Texas: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/texas-defamation-law

 

[cbg]

I seriously question whether we are really talking about "false statements" as opposed to "other people's opinions that do not agree with mine".

 

[quincy]

I seriously question whether we are really talking about "false statements" as opposed to "other people's opinions that do not agree with mine".

In his earlier threads, no1texas mentioned that his employer spoke of some "errors and mistakes" made by no1texas - which is what led to no1texas leaving the meeting where these errors were discussed. Because no1texas is an accountant, a false statement about errors and mistakes could imply something false about his competence as an accountant, which could, in turn, cause reputational harm sufficient to support a legal action.

That makes it sound less like "opinion" and more like statements of fact. If false facts, that could potentially be a problem.

Without specifics, though, it is hard to be 100% sure that no1texas has not been defamed by the statements made. It is easier to say that there is probably no legal action worth pursuing because these are costly suits and they are rarely worth pursuing.

The harm would have to be significant to justify the time, effort and expense. And there is always a chance the suit would fail in the end anyway.

 

[cbg]

I still maintain that just because no1texan believes his work was exemplary and that he made no mistakes, does not mean that he is correct or that other people were not dissatisfied with his work.

 

[quincy]

I still maintain that just because no1texan believes his work was exemplary and that he made no mistakes, does not mean that he is correct or that other people were not dissatisfied with his work.

I don't disagree with that.

It is too bad no1texan did not stick around the church meeting long enough to discover what his errors and mistakes were said to be. He might have learned that he did, in fact, make some notable errors and mistakes and that nothing false was said or implied about him or his work.

It has to be hard for him to start looking for a new job at age 70+, though. I wish him success moving forward.