Defamation, Is this the correct area?

[Bellasdaddy]

Hopefully this is posted in the right area or could be moved??
My mother-in-law is being accused of defamation by her younger brother, who is an attorney.

Long story - short...Mother-in-law's elderly parents lived in Florida and passed away about four years ago. M-I-L has been trying to get an accounting of funds from her brother who is the executor and an attorney. He has since moved to South Carolina (m-i-l lives in New Jersey) and keeps dodging the accounting so m-i-l got a lawyer and tried to get accounting. Lawyer in SC slipped up and missed some dates now the case has been dismissed.

M-i-L's brother is now accusing her of defamation for supposedly calling family services on him when he lived with parents in FL and for the lawsuit in SC.

He is suing her in Fed Court in SC. She has no money but does have a house.

 

[justalayman]

Hopefully this is posted in the right area or could be moved??
.

No, it isn't. This would be the correct topic:

Libel / Slander / Defamation

if you repost it there, please delete this thread.

You might also add a question if you actually have one other than "is this the correct area?"

 

[Bellasdaddy]

Thanks for the tip and hello to you too.

 

[quincy]

This does not sound like something your mother-in-law can handle easily on her own, since she lives in New Jersey and the suit has been filed in South Carolina. I recommend she has an attorney assist her. The attorney may suggest filing a motion to dismiss, and the matter could end there. From what I gather from the limited facts you have provided, the brother does not appear to have a supportable defamation action.

For one thing, the statute of limitations has long since passed for filing a defamation suit over a family services complaint made against the brother in Florida four years ago. It would have been a lousy basis for a defamation suit, anyway, as family service complaints are covered by a qualified privilege which makes them immune from suit unless the complaint is shown to have been made with actual malice (knowing it was false at the time it was made) and this is an extremely difficult element to prove.

And, if the other part of the defamation suit is based on a lawsuit filed against the brother for failing to make an accurate accounting of the estate of the parents, that will not support a defamation suit, either. What is said in court papers is absolutely privileged and immune from civil action.

If the South Carolina attorney your mother-in-law hired originally failed to represent her properly (by missing important filing dates), she can file a complaint about him with the South Carolina Bar Association (South Carolina Bar // Home).

At the same, she may wish to look into the Bar Association's Pro Bono program to see if it can handle her problems with her brother.