is it slander?

[MayaNeighbor]

What is the name of your state? New York

I am putting out a magazine of different accounts of "slumlords" in my home town. Renters are sending me their stories of how a landlord has provided a poor living situation as well as photos of the houses. Can I legally put the names of accused "bad" landlords in the copy of my magazine?

 

[CheeseBlotto]

Immediately hire the best lawyer in town. You'll need him/her.

 

[MayaNeighbor]

how can i get around it then?

If you arent just being facetious, how can I produce the magazine with statements about these landlords without it being illegal?
My intention is not to put them out of business, just show the injustice that they carry out daily.

 

[meganproser]

How do you plan to do such a thing responsibly? Are you going to investigate each story to make sure the writer is giving you true facts? If not, don't you realize there are people who will use your publication to hurt individuals they simply dislike?

You don't have to name someone to libel them. A libel plaintiff needs only one witness to testify that they believed the publication referred to the plaintiff. It would actually be better to use names, than to take a chance on giving a description that leads people to blame the wrong guy!

There may be a way to publish some type of ratings without getting yourself into trouble, but the idea as you've described it here sounds like a very high risk business.

 

[Rhubarb297]

Not my area of expertise, but contrary to the posts on here, this kind of thing is done all the time. There are scores and scores of publications which rate companies, report complaints against companies, etc. And I'm talking very legitimate publications. For example, Consumer Reports praises and trashes companies for certain products. There are countless other examples.

While it quite possibly could be done, you do need to consult with a darn good attorney to make sure you're not running afoul of the law. It's a much more complicated issue than what you could ever imagine and you need good legal advice.

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Not my area of expertise, but contrary to the posts on here, this kind of thing is done all the time. There are scores and scores of publications which rate companies, report complaints against companies, etc. And I'm talking very legitimate publications. For example, Consumer Reports praises and trashes companies for certain products. There are countless other examples.

While it quite possibly could be done, you do need to consult with a darn good attorney to make sure you're not running afoul of the law. It's a much more complicated issue than what you could ever imagine and you need good legal advice.

It's obvious this is not your 'area of expertise' since you are misleading the poster as to the legal liability for publication. I suggest you return to class and study the definition of publisher, distributor and reader in the U.S. Supreme court's AOL decision.

Taking a poll is fine. But what this poster has proposed is a derogatory subjective label which IS actionable without proof.