South Florida Personal Injury Attorney

South Florida Defamation Lawyer, Florida Defamation Attorneys

South Florida defamation lawyer David I. Fuchs has over 17 years of experience in successfully representing the victims of defamatory statements, their families and friends who have sustained and suffered serious injury and damages to their name, reputation and economic livelihood because of a defamatory statement.

Defamation, sometimes called "defamation of character", is spoken or written words that falsely and negatively reflect on a living person's reputation.

If a person or the news media says or writes something about you that is understood to lower your reputation, or that keeps people from associating with you, defamation has occurred. Slander and libel are two forms of defamation.

Slander is a spoken defamation. Libel is a written defamation. Generally, radio and television broadcasts that are defamatory are considered to be libel, rather than slander.

In order to prove defamation, you have to be able to prove that what was said or written about you was false. If the information is true, or if you consented to publication of the material, you will not have a case. However, you may bring an defamatory action if the comments are so reprehensible and false that they effect your reputation in the community or cast aspersions on you.

Suits against public figures are a problematic. A public figure may be an elected or appointed (a politician) or someone who has stepped into a public controversy (e.g., movie stars and TV stars, star athletes). Public figures have a "harder road to toll" than the average person since they must prove that the party defaming them knew the statements were false, made them with actual malice, or was negligent in saying or writing them. Proving these elements makes the chance of a successful lawsuit slim.

Insults and epithets are generally not considered to be defamatory. Usually they are seen as outbursts of emotion, with no real substance, except to show intense dislike.

You have a right to express an opinion as long as your statement of opinion is just an opinion, not containing specific facts that can be proved untrue.

With regard to newspaper reporters damages can be recovered if the newspaper's story had inaccuracies in the reporting of statements which hurt the reputation of a person or business. The newspaper would be held responsible for its story.

With regard to movie, theatre, and restaurant reviews, a fair critique of a restaurant, movie, TV show, or theater play is not libelous, even though the comments or criticism are disparaging and may result in a loss of business or reputation.

There are defenses to a defamation claim. Establishing the truth is the single most effective defense that can be offered. If the remark is truthful and it "hurts", is embarrassing, or subjects you to ridicule, there is little you can do. Unfortunately, unless the remark is false, you have no recourse.

There are three main defenses to a libel claim (other than asserting that it never happened or that you were never involved):

The first is claiming, and proving, that the statement was privileged (and thus not public). Only certain professions (doctors, lawyers, psychologists), or individuals (chiefly your spouse) can maintain that privilege; and if any non-privileged third party was part of the communication, the privilege is broken. (Employees of a professional are only partially covered, to the extent that you needed to use them to contact the professional. Don't expect to tell your deepest, darkest secret to your attorney's secretary, and maintain that privilege.)

The second defense is claiming, and proving, that the statement is true, for "truth is an absolute defense".

The third defense is claiming, and proving, that the statement was an opinion, not an assertion of a fact. Since this last defense is only as good as the weakest or worst, but still reasonable, misinterpretation, it's not one you really want to rely on. There's a world of difference between saying "I think he's a crook," and "he's a crook". Especially if a third party might inadvertently leave out the first two words when passing your message on.

If you have been defamed you may seek both actual damages, to recover the harm that you have suffered, and punitive damages to punish the person who made the remark (and serve as an example to deter others).

If the defamation improperly accused you of a crime or reflected on your profession, the Court or jury can assess the damages. For other types of defamation you must prove some actual damage to be able to recover.

South Florida defamation lawyer David I. Fuchs will also represent you in personal injury matters for injuries that include, but are not limited to:

I) Injuries requiring surgery, sutures, staples

2) Traumatic Brain Injury, including those caused by oxygen deprivation

3) Severe burns resulting in significant and permanent scarring

4) Mental anguish and emotional distress, death

5) Those injuries caused by a collision with a driver that is drunk, impaired or otherwise under the influence of narcotics or drugs.

Call South Florida defamation attorney David I. Fuchs Toll Free at 800-570-2858 for a free consultation to discuss your defamation case. You may also write to South Florida defamation Attorney David I. Fuchs by filling out the form on the "Contact Us" page."

If you can not come to us South Florida defamation lawyer David I. Fuchs will send a representative to see you. We speak English and Spanish. Se habla ingles y espanol. 

Llame David Fuchs Florida abogado de difamacion.