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November 8, 2007
Journalism majors: Quick, share with me everything you know about libel and slander.
Over the weekend, I decided to exercise my First Amendment rights and took two of my College Republicans out to the corner of Main and Otterman Streets in Greensburg to quietly protest certain shady behaviors among our team of incumbent county commissioners running for re-election.
One sign said, "Throw Ceraso out of the county's car and out of office."
One sign said, "Honk if you want Ceraso to pay for his own gas."
My sign said, "Ceraso and Balya: Corruption With Legs."
We'd only been out for a few minutes when an elderly man in a brown corduroy coat ambled up to me and held out a camera. I wasn't sure if he was a journalist or just a concerned citizen who enjoyed my sign and my use of First Amendment rights. He took my picture, and then he took my name.
And then he said, "Good, we'll need that for the law suit we're going to file against you," and walked into the courthouse just across the street.
After my first moment of blind panic, my instinct was that he wanted to scare me away, and that I was not going to let myself be scared away. I regrouped with my CR friends, they confirmed my instincts, and we returned to merrily waving our signs and dancing jigs every time we got a honk.
But this won't die. I've gotten an online threat from someone who says that I'll be sued along with the Westmoreland GOP and the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania - I assume for defamation of character. I emailed Commissioner Ceraso himself to ask if he knew that, at the very least, one of his supporters is threatening to sue me on his behalf. It's been more than twenty-four hours and I haven't heard a word in reply. I did some research and found that in the case of a defamation suit, the burden of proof that Balya and Ceraso are, in fact, corruption with legs, rests firmly on the defendant. That is not, from what I can dredge up of my Intro to American Law class that I took freshman year, how case law usually works. I don't know what to do. This is not exactly what I wanted for my senior year of college. They'd have to be crazy to sue a college kid, I think, but all the visible evidence has previously shown that they are not especially nice guys.
So, my friends, what do you know about libel and slander? Am I sprouting grey hair over nothing?
Posted by MeganRitter at November 8, 2007 11:25 AM
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Comments
As you know, I am not a lawyer, but I doubt that a lawsuit over such a sign that gives a political opinion would have any legal merit.
The legal system would be completely clogged with people suing each other if it were possible to affect elections by suing people holding signs. Having said that, if you choose to express your First Amendment right to free speech, nothing in the Bill of Rights or the Constitution prevents a private citizen from suing you. (If the same person sues you repeatedly, or threatens to sue you repeatedly without ever actually getting a case in court, that's a different story.)
There is a difference between saying "I don't like Chef Smith's cooking" and "Chef Jones can't cook." The first is a personal opinion, and the second could be considered defamation, since its goal is not primarily to communicate your opinion of a meal, and its effect could be detrimental to Smith's ability to earn a living.
Of the three signs you mentioned, yours made a personal statement about the character of the two candidates. If you had made that statement about a private citizen, it might possibly count as defamation.
But publicizing your opinion about the actions of elected officials, even if those opinions enrage those who want to keep those officials in power, is a different issue.
It's true that if a defendant wants to use the "truth" defense, then he or she has to prove the disputed statements are true. But because your targets are public figures, the prosecution has the added burden of proving that the accusations were made with "actual malice" -- that is, that you knew they were lies or you had a reckless disregard for whether they were true.
Among other potential defenses available to you are that you were giving an opinion (not making a statement that could be interpreted as a fact), that you were offering "fair comment on a matter of public interest," and that no damage was done to your targets (since they won re-election anyway).
If there's a moral to the story, it might lie in the risks that come with the ad hominem approach.
A random citizen who wants to take you to court over this would have to pay a lawyer up front, since any damages that might come from a suit like this would 1) be very small and 2) would go to Balya and Ceraso, not to the zealous supporter who filed the suit. If the suit also names the county and state GOP, you'd have plenty of legal support to defend your case.
If I were you, I wouldn't lose sleep over this.
Posted by: Dennis G. Jerz at November 8, 2007 6:04 PM
I really think this was just a trick to get you guys to stop protesting. After all, if someone could get sued for the mild things you had on those signs, then political marketing firms would be getting sued every election cycle.
Besides, those guys won, so what do they care.
Posted by: Mike Rubino at November 8, 2007 9:07 PM
As Dr. Jerz alluded to, the burden of proof really rests on the prosecution. The Law defines libel (paraphrased, of course... I don't memorize this shit; I'm not that pathetic) as a false, malicious, public statement printed for the purpose of degrading a person's good reputation or character.
The prosecution would have to prove a malicious intent. Libel is a tough thing to weed through. Court costs are pretty high for that. I doubt a couple of kids holding up signs in Greensburg would illicit a "defamation of character suit."
It was a clever trick... "Ha, ha, dumb conservatives don't even know American law." We're all so amused. Whatever. Politicians are evil. Period. Put an elephant or donkey sticker on them, they're still the same conniving power elites. This is why I think we should have taken the very good advice of avoiding political parties for the sake of preserving our democracy.
I should stop reading 1984. Damn you, Dr. Cary! Just had to assign the most inspiring piece of radical literature ever, huh?
Posted by: Evan at November 12, 2007 12:18 AM