Defamation
The law of defamation concerns the publication to a third person of what is called an “imputation” of and concerning another person whereby that person’s reputation is injured, or that person is ridiculed, shunned or avoided.
A defamatory publication may be written, oral or by conduct so newspapers, radio broadcasters, or any person involved in the chain of events leading to publication is a potential defendant. This can include the journalist, the editor, the printer, the newspaper proprietor and the distributor. These persons usually are insured.
Quite often defamatory publications are settled by the publisher:
- making a public apology and correction of the facts,
- removing the defamatory publication from any websites, and
- offering compensation to the damaged party for non-economic loss such as damage to reputation, injury to feelings and loss of esteem, and
- offering compensation for any pecuniary economic loss,
- as well as for any reasonable legal costs incurred.
Otherwise, most of these remedies may be ordered by a Court which may include aggravated damages.