Slander?

[bham]

Alabama

My xwife has proceeded tell my daughters kindergarden teacher that I had ADD/ADHD. Subsequently the teacher has recommended that the child see a psychiatrist. My xwife fills out the paperwork for this psychiatrist and puts in my medical historty that I'm ADHD. Issue is I'm not. Never have been. So here I am looking like a fool. She also blind copies emails to my daughters friends parents that make me look silly. She manipulates doctors by saying I don't give my daughtrer needed medication and in turn they write a special note to the school nurse to provide mediation to my child during my custody. all lies, making me look bad...

Any ideas other than she's nuts?

 

[tranquility]

Duplicate thread. But, nothing said seems defamatory, let alone cause damages.

 

[quincy]

Alabama

. . . She manipulates doctors by saying I don't give my daughtrer needed medication and in turn they write a special note to the school nurse to provide mediation to my child during my custody. . .

bham, the above-quoted portion of your post is the only thing you mention that I can see that could potentially be looked at as defamatory, as it implies child neglect.

However the information provided and the advice given in your other thread on this forum is good.

Based on what you have written here, there does not appear to be enough to support a legal action against your ex-wife, and any legal action you might consider filing against her would no doubt create more problems for all of you than it would solve.

Good luck.

 

[Sloop John D]

I don't have a lot of experience with defamation issues, but wouldn't a false claim that someone has a mental illness be a classic case of defamation?

 

[quincy]

I don't have a lot of experience with defamation issues, but wouldn't a false claim that someone has a mental illness be a classic case of defamation?

You are speaking of the ADD/ADHD comment, Sloop John?

What is considered defamatory, and defamatory per se (statements that are intrinsically defamatory), changes over time. For example, for a long time it was defamatory to falsely claim someone was gay. In fact, it was only last year that New York became one of the majority of states to decide it wasn't. As society changes, so do laws, to reflect these changes (although sometimes it takes awhile ).

I think it is probably unlikely that a false accusation that someone has ADD/ADHD would be enough to support a defamation claim against the speaker. The rate of diagnosis of ADD/ADHD is high for people in the U.S. It is a relatively common and relatively treatable condition. There is not (generally) a reputationally injurious stigma attached to being diagnosed with this disorder.

But I suppose a successful suit could be possible, depending on facts.

That said, I do not see any facts reported by bham, in the context he describes, that would change my thinking here. I do not think the false claim, made by his ex-wife that he has ADD/ADHD, is defamatory or could on its own support a defamation suit.

What has been "classic per se" defamation in the past are false claims that impugn the skill, fitness, financial capacity, or moral or ethical standards of a person in his job or profession; false claims of committing criminal acts; false claims of unchastity in women; and false claims of having a loathesome or contagious disease (for example, at one time leprosy, now AIDS).

Of course, bham can always run all of the facts by an Alabama attorney to determine better if there is a legal action to take against his ex-wife and, if there is one, if it makes any sense to pursue.