Libel and Slander
An owner may be liable when an employee only if it appears the owner directed the employee to relate specific words creating a false account regarding a customer. Even if the employee is acting within the duties of his position and to the benefit of his or her employer, the owner may not be liable and any case may be resolved by summary judgment due to lack of authorization. Summary judgment only applies in slander cases and allows the judge to decide for either the claimant or defendant.
Depending on the account, if it is verbal or print, the customer could possibly bring an action for defamation in compensation for the injury. By definition, slander is oral defamation, libel is written defamation. Libel is a false statement in any type of print, including writing, pictures or signs that injure the reputation of the claimant, exposing the possibility of public ridicule or contempt. There are several conditions to prove slander. It includes verbal defamation of a person's character. These include but are not limited to:
Falsely accusing them a crime punishable by law
Having a contagious disorder
An act that may exclude him or her from general society
False behavior regarding their trade, office, or profession in a calculated way to injure professionally
Causing special damage by uttering any critical words
Causing special damage must be specifically proven, while the other accusations are assumed. To prove a case of libel or slander, the accusation must be given to someone other than the person accused. If the statement, oral or written, is actual truth, neither liable nor slander may be shown.
Claims for libel or slander may not be based on certain communications that are deemed privileged. These include, but are not limited to:
- Fairly made comments of an attorney regarding circumstances and conduct of parties involved in a case which he or she is involved
- Statements made in the performance of a public duty in good faith
- Honest and fair reports of the proceedings of judicial or legislative bodies
- Statements made in the performance of a legal or moral private duty in good faith
- Honest and fair reports of court proceedings
- Statements made on the part of the speaker to protect his or her interest in a matter in which it is concerned with good faith
- Reports of information from any arresting officer or police authorities held to be truthful
- Statements made as part of an act in furtherance of the right of free speech in good faith
- Reference to the acts of public men or public women in their public capacity. The right to claim the privilege to comment is lost if it was used only to vent private malice.
Emotional Distress-Negligent or Intentional
Emotional distress may be a cause for a claim in a civil suit. If the offender merely curses, that is not sufficient for a claim. Only if it can be proven that owner's employee had conduct that was extreme and outrageous, causing intentional or reckless infliction of severe emotional distress and that there is a casual relationship between the conduct and the emotional distress may charges be filed by a claimant.
The employee's actions must be intentional or reckless, and not just merely negligent. The conduct must also go beyond all reasonable bounds of decency, to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable to the in degree of being extreme. An example of an exception is where a jury issue exists, where the claim is subject to evidentiary proof, such as a customer's claim of emotional distress due to a pharmacist, believing the customer was falsely attempting to obtain prescription drugs, notified authorities of the customer's supposed fraud.
Alleged mental or emotional injuries, resulting from the actions of an owner or his employees, are often the subject of claims. Claimants may not recover for negligent infliction of emotional distress unless he suffers a physical injury resulting from an actual impact, regardless of the degree of mental anguish. For example, if an armed man breaks into an apartment, robbing without touching, there is no recovery against the apartment complex. Failing to maintain adequate security does not apply when contact with the tenant does not occur.
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