I've been accused of slander!

[cgray56]

What is the name of your state? California

I am a school teacher. I recently received a certified letter from a fellow teacher threatening me with a slander lawsuit, because he received a forwarded email allegedly written by me (although he didn't provide me with a copy of this email, so I'm not sure what I'm being accused of saying). The email was "forwarded" to him by someone who clearly dislikes me.

My question is: isn't the person who forwarded this confidential email the one who perpetrated slander? If it's the email I think it is, I did make an evaluative statement about someone in the email, but it was not intended for anyone else's eyes other than the persons to whom it was addressed. Is there no protection for confidential correspondence? Additionally, this email (if it's the one I think it is) contained confidential information about a student that---when forwarded without consent or permission---violates federal privacy laws. Do I have any recourse against the person who forwarded this email (obviously with the hope that it would cause animosity and potential legal action---which it has)?

 

[rmet4nzkx]

I suggest you take this question and what you believe to be the offending email to your teacher's union and their legal counsel, you have several issues to sort out which may only be determined by actually seeing the actual email. They can also make appropriate contacts between the various persons involved. Usually such differences can be resolved through your grievence proceedures within your union. Do your emails have a confidentiality statement attached to them? The name and identifying information about the student should be blanked out once it goes beyond the intended person, unless there is permission or a need.

Everyone has a right to free speech, so there is a difference between an opinion stated publically and a confidential evaluation done in the course of your job. The object of those opinions still has rights, so slander may not be the only issue. Slander comes into play when the line between opinion or belief and relating in some form information about a person that is not true. So if you go around saying that teacher A reminds you of a horse thief, that is opinion, but if you go around saying teacher is a convicted horse thief and they were never charged or they were aquitted, that is slander.