Libel for Parent/Anonymous E-mails

[jhannise]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

A parent has been signing off "anonymous" false complaints of my teaching- ranging from being unable to prepare the students for the material to talking about my sexual exploits to my students.

The letters began during Sept 08, and are complaints supposedly from the time period of Sept 06 to June 07. In these letters, the parent has brought up "facts"- such as other administrators/counselors/teachers are aware of my behavior and that their child was in my Alg class.

Doing a little sleuthing on my own- I found out that the parent is actually another teacher in the district with a higher seniority then me (And I'm pretty sure that her disparaging attitude is personal, not professional. I've never met the lady, I teach at the hs- she teaches at the elementary, there is no reason for discord.) Additionally, her daughter was in my Trig (not Alg) class and has graduated from hs already.

I've put out a few feelers and none of the teachers I know have heard rumors of that type being circulated. If one of the counselors/administration had heard the rumors, I doubt that they would "cover for me." I'm not exactly favored enough for anyone to put their job on the line. (They don't hate me, but they don't love me that much.)

My principal seems to be getting more and more concerned with each letter, but the lady refuses to sign off on her name and my union is advising me to keep the extra information to myself- as a last minute unforeseen defense tactic.

However, her interference is beginning to affect my job as I get continuously paranoid and have to be investigated. In all fairness, my principal does seem to be aware of the shadiness of the entire investigation.

What can I do? I want to sue this woman for defamation of character. Her daughter is over 18 (I'm pretty sure) and should be making these claims herself. I want her to stop interfering with my life. Please advise.

And I really do want to sue.

 

[quincy]

I am confused by your post.

Is it the principal who is receiving these anonymous letters? What sort of "sleuthing" did you do to identify the writer of these letters? Why should it be your former student sending these letters instead of her mother? Why, if you have not had any personal contact with this mother, is she targeting you for personal reasons? Why would anyone need to "cover" for you? Who is investigating you?

 

[jhannise]

I'm sorry about the confusion:

It's definitely the parent's e-mail address. (i've plugged the e-mail address into google and found a number of links to the parent, and of the type that it is an active and current account for the parent- not the student)

The principal has forwarded me the e-mails he has been receiving from the lady to try to gain any insight as to anything that could be misconstrued to give validity to the parent's argument.

I think the daughter is lying and the mother believes her... I can't think of any reason why this woman would have a dislike towards me. (sidenote: the daughter is now over 18- so does the parent still have the right to file the complaint?)

No one needs to "cover for" me- in her e-mails, the lady makes accusations stating that there are "other administrators" aware of the problem- I'm pretty sure that if that were the case- these administrators would have come and spoken to me about the situation.

The principal is trying to investigate the situation with fairness and respect- but this is seriously putting a hamper on things at work.

 

[quincy]

Thanks for clarifying your post for me.

I do not see, from what you have posted, any defamation action that you could bring against this mother that would have much chance of success. No one likes to have lies told about them, but not all lies are actionable - and I am afraid that is probably the case in your situation.

It really depends on how the emails have been worded and the effect these emails have had on your employment.

Because your principal seems to be "sympathetic" toward you (although concerned), and because you are still in the same teaching position you were in prior to the receipt of the emails, and because your relationship with the staff at your school has not, apparently, changed in a significant way, it does not appear that you have suffered reputational injury of the sort that would be necessary for a defamation action. Becoming "paranoid" over the investigation into your teaching style or the content of your lessons is not enough to carry a suit.

You could have an attorney review the content of the emails, to see if there is something in them that I have missed from your posts here and that might support legal action. If the emails are expressed as opinions of your teaching style only, however, or based on some truth as to the content of your lessons, then they would be covered by free speech. Criticisms and critiques of a person's performance, whether you think they are unfair or unkind or not, can generally be freely expressed.

Any attorney you decide to consult might suggest that you send the mother a cease-and-desist letter, at the very least, to let her know that you have consulted with an attorney and are considering taking some action against her. This might stop the emails to your principal, if she is afraid of being sued. Or you might consider a civil harassment order, if her emails are continuing and seem to serve no purpose other than to annoy and harass you.

As for a defamation action, however, I do not see one (from this distance) that would be worth pursuing.