legal complaint

[faithnlve]

What is the name of your state? vt..can someone sue someone for libel/slander if they put a complaint into the state on them? Does it protect the rights of the complainant of being sued when they go through the state and believe what they write to be true? faith

 

[outonbail]

What is the name of your state? vt..can someone sue someone for libel/slander if they put a complaint into the state on them? Does it protect the rights of the complainant of being sued when they go through the state and believe what they write to be true? faith

Unfortunately, in this day and age someone can file a law suit on you for almost any reason they want. However, in order to actually win a judgment against you for libel, they would need to prove the allegations you made against them and reported to the state were untrue and that you knew they were not true and only made them for malicious reasons. Then they would have to prove they were damaged as a direct result of your intentionally filing a malicious report with statements you knew were false.

 

[Quaere]

Then they would have to prove they were damaged as a direct result of your intentionally filing a malicious report with statements you knew were false.

Unless it qualifies as defamation per se and you are in one of the states that presumes damages for such claims.

Edit: Ooops. I didn’t see that OP identified his state as Vermont. Vermont does allow presumed damages, but they may also require a showing of “some actual harm” as an element of the claim.

Of course, in a defamation per se case, “some actual harm” is usually established simply by explaining plaintiff’s emotional damages.

 

[faithnlve]

the report was filed with secretary of state office, and it was based upon what I believed to be truthful. The report alleges some criminal activity and the secretary of state forwarded it to the AG's office. They did investigate the other side, and now want me to file another complaint form to another office. I want to do the right thing. And, I am definately not doing this out of being malicous. This person hurt my mom financially and emotionally. Thanks Faith

 

[quincy]

You live in my very favorite state - I used to spend summers in South Hero and I still have several relatives living there.

If you submitted a complaint about a business or a person to the Attorney General's Office, because of practices you believed to be illegal, the Attorney General will investigate the claim. They will contact the person or business about the complaint and allow them the opportunity to respond. This response will normally be forwarded on to you. The person or business generally does not see the original complaint and, therefore, will not "see" any libel. Although potentially libelous material has been read by a "third person" (the Attorney General's Office), they will not bring a libel suit against you for detailing the reasons why you are requesting an investigation. If the Office finds the complaint is a valid one, they will continue with it and notify you. A lot of the time, if one person has filed a complaint with their office about a particular business or a person, many have.

A complaint about a business or a person through the AG's Office is rarely enough for a lawsuit. The person or business has not seen the libel, and can show no injury or damages.

I am not a lawyer - but I have dealt with Michigan's AG's Office a lot before.

 

[Quaere]

These reports made to government agencies are privileged. The speech is only protected when it is between you and the agency. If you discuss the same allegations with people outside the agency, that speech is not protected.

You will not get away with deliberately making a false report but if you honestly have probable cause to report something you should be fine.

A complaint to a government office rarely qualifies as libel, but that is because the communication is privileged.

Whether the subject of a defamatory publication sees it or not, has nothing to do with whether the publication is libelous.

 

[faithnlve]

Then there is a problem here if this is true. The complaint I sent to the secretary of state was forwarded to security and Bonds division. This agency then forwarded the original complaint to the people I wrote the complaint about. Now these people are calling me telling me they are going to sue me for slander. They said they had a visit from the licensing office whom holds their license for their business and recieved a copy of my complaint from them.. An investigation is going on now, but it kind of freaked me out that the secretary of state forwarded my complaint, then the people that received it showed it to the people I complained about. Now this licensing division wants me to write a complaint as well. I am very confused here. Thanks Faith

 

[quincy]

My feeling is that the licensing division would not want to continue with the investigation into this business if they did not find your complaint had some merit. The business calling you to threaten a suit for slander may be to intimidate you into not filing another complaint.

You are not expected to verify, on your own, this business' practices - that would burden you with greater responsibilities than are required of a private citizen. That is, indeed, why you filed a complaint with the state in the first place. If you had knowledge of the actual falsity of your complaint before filing a complaint, then you could have problems. But if you had reason to believe that your accusations against this business had merit, you should be fine. However, as outonbail said in his first post, anyone can sue for any reason.

You might want to contact the AG's Office or the licensing division to get a better idea of where the investigation stands and what liabilities you might face should you file another complaint. Mention the business' contact with you and their threat of a slander suit.

 

[faithnlve]

Thank you will do. I filed actually on my mom's behalf. She is 70+ years old, and she was taken in by these other people. I feel confident in what I found. This has been hard since it has torn family members apart since these people were my oldest brothers best friends. I am now, and my mom, are not invited to a wedding for my oldest brothers son, since he told his son if we went he would not, and I get countless calls in regards to stopping these charges from happening or he will not want anything more to do with me. As I said these people are his best friends, and they are the 4 musketeers as they put it. Yet, these people took thousands of dollars in checks written out to themselves. Again, thanks for your input, I feel the case is strong enough to go forward, and will keep pursuing it. Faith

 

[Quaere]

Your speech is protected if it was in the course of making a report to a govt. agency. The information should only be seen by those with a need to know.

In theory, the subject’s reputation is not harmed by an unlimited number of people who see your report on a need to know basis. Yet, the same allegations made to one individual (someone other than the subject himself), absent privilege, can be the basis for a defamation claim.

In other words, say what you will to the appropriate authorities but be very, very careful what you say about these people to anyone other than the authorities.