Slander and libel

The law in Georgia has recognized for many years that a person has a protectable legal interest in his/her character and good name.  The same holds true for a business.  In the state of Georgia, a suit for defamation (either slander or libel) is based upon an injury done to one’s reputation.  Generally speaking, libel and slander can be defined as follows below.

Under O.C.G.A. § 51-5-1, a libel is a malicious and false defamation which is published in writing, print, pictures, signs, on the internet or otherwise (not verbal) which tends to injure a person’s reputation and expose a person to public contempt, ridicule or hatred.

Slander, on the other hand, is the verbal (non-written) utterance of disparaging words which, by their nature, damage a person.  Per O.C.G.A. § 51-5-4, slander or oral defamation consists of:

• imputing to another a crime punishable by law;
• charging a person with having some contagious disorder or with being guilty of some debasing act which may exclude him from society;
• making charges against another in reference to his trade, office, or profession, calculated to injure him therein; or
• uttering any disparaging words productive of special damage which flows naturally therefrom.

Georgia law pertaining to defamation is somewhat complex and the ability to successfully maintain an action for libel or slander depends upon a number of factors including the substance of the defamatory statement, the truth of the defamatory statement, the status of the person who has allegedly been defamed and the damages which result from the defamatory statement.  Despite the difficult nature of defamation cases, if an individual possesses a meritorious claim worth championing, The Dow Firm, P.C. has the ability to assist in the vindication of a defamed person’s good name.