Photoshopped Image - Defamation

[tfs_jt]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois

Recently the company I worked for had to close it's doors due to some alleged criminal activities by the CEO. The president of the company (not the same person) was terminated about 2 weeks before everything went down. As a joke an ex-coworker/friend and I took an image that was publically available on the internet from an interview he had done, and photoshopped it behind a set of bars in a jail cell. I posted this to a friend's facebook wall as a joke, and then forgot about it. Fast forward to last week, I receive a cease and desist in the mail concerning the image. I removed the image as soon as I received the cease and desist, an then contacted the attorney that had sent it to let them know I had removed the image from facebook.

My question is, is it safe to consider this a done deal? Or should I be worried about further action taken? My intuition is telling me that it's probably finished. I don't want to assume anything, but I would think it would be quite expensive for this person to take it any further with no proof that any damage was done to their reputation. I did not make any sort of defaming statement when posting the image. Just posted the image and let it set.

 

[quincy]

Was the photo you photoshopped of the CEO or of the company president?

 

[tfs_jt]

the president... the one that was terminated 2 weeks before everything went down.

 

[quincy]

Ah. That can be more problematic, if it is the CEO and not the president who is alleged to be involved in criminal activities.

There is, of course, no predicting what the president will or will not do. The fact that he already contacted an attorney over your Facebook posting indicates he considered it potentially reputationally injurious. The photo definitely implies the president is guilty of a jailable offense.

In Illinois, there is a one-year statute of limitations period for filing a defamation suit. The president may wait to see what the fallout is, if any, from your photoshopped photo, before following up with any legal action - if he decides to follow up with legal action at all (and he probably won't, if he is actually found to be involved in criminal activities himself).

At any rate, you were wise to remove the photo upon request of the attorney. Should a defamation suit arise over the photo, the fact that you deleted it works in your favor.

Good luck.

 

[tfs_jt]

Thanks for the prompt response. I do understand that he can do whatever he wants to do (you can sue for anything), and that is unpredictable.

One final question to go with all of this. Would the fact that it was on someone's facebook wall (viewable only by friends of that person, not to the general public) have any bearing on the perception of effect on their reputation? I'm still not quite sure how he was even made aware of it since neither myself or my friend are friends with him on facebook. He would have had to been informed through a mutual acquaintance of it's existence (not sure who it would have been).

Thanks again for your quick and thorough responses.

 

[Nikki Green]

Would the fact that it was on someone's facebook wall (viewable only by friends of that person, not to the general public) have any bearing on the perception of effect on their reputation? I'm still not quite sure how he was even made aware of it since neither myself or my friend are friends with him on facebook.

Be aware of Facebook. It's a handy tool for keeping up with friends, family, etc, but you must be stringent with privacy. I have seen several photographs of a friend of a friend of a friend of someone who seemed like a Gentleman in person, but was the opposite (another post, another time).
Perhaps this is how the President was able to view the photoshopped photograph.

Also, just because you may have locked down your privacy settings in Facebook, it doesn't mean it lasts. Sometimes, due to security bugs, upgrades, etc, Facebook privacy options may be lifted. So if you set privacy such that you and your friends can see a photograph, next morning you may find that your privacy setting is such that Everyone can see a photograph,

 

[quincy]

I agree with Nikki that there is nothing all that private about the privacy settings on Facebook. You can pretty much assume that if you post something on the internet, it will be open to public viewing.

As for the effect your posting may have on a person's reputation if the viewing of the defamatory material is limited, it may have no real effect at all.

All that is needed to meet the "publication" element of defamation is that the defamatory material is communicated to one person other than the subject of the defamation. It is probably safe to say that the more people who have access to the defamatory material, the greater the chance that reputational injury will be suffered by the subject of the defamatory material. And this greater "audience" could potentially translate into a greater award of damages in court.

However, if, say, the defamatory material is accessed by only one other person and that person happens to be a prosepective employer of the person defamed, the reputational injury would probably be greater than if the material was accessed by thousands of disinterested people who have no potential influence over future employment.

As with everything in law, it really depend on all of the facts of any particular situation. There are rarely any blanket answers in law.