Libel?

[ein]

What is the name of your state? Arkansas

I'm in the middle of a huge lawsuit. I was forwarded an email by my attorney today which was from opposing counsel. In the email he stated, "by the way, I hope you all have a replenshing retainer that they're current on, I've heard they like to cycle through lawyers and not pay their bills---smiley-thingy."

We are in fact on our third attorney but the other 2 were paid in full at the time of our mutual departure. One actually had to give us back 1/2 of our retainer. So this can easily be proven that what he said is a lie.

Do I have a libel suit against him?

 

[cbg]

And what damages have you suffered because of this? How do you plan to prove that he didn't "hear" this (regardless of whether it is accurate or not)?

Not to mention that I don't believe this qualifies as "publication" for purposes of libel laws.

 

[ein]

The damages are because he told this to my attorney currently representing me in an attempt to undermine her confidence in me and our case the day before we were set to go into deposition. The statement can easily be proven untrue by getting statements from the other 2 attorneys.

Would he not have to prove the identity from whom he "heard" this lie?

When I researched Libel it said that "absolutely email is considered a form of publication" due to the massive amounts of information we are now using via the computer, i.e. medical records, stored data, etc. It stated that email is the newest form of publication and would "absolutely" be considered under the same laws and guidelines as other publication that falls under the libel laws.

 

[You Are Guilty]

Would he not have to prove the identity from whom he "heard" this lie?

Nope. I suggest you read up on "burden of proof".

 

[jazzminderas]

You were right about one thing.

The person you are soliciting for advice didn't even consider it a publication. What makes you think there isn't greater inconsistency in their message? I wonder...