Can i sue for slander in small claims court

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Meet the Editors. From bad debt to nuisance to breach of contract, understand the legal basis of your case before you sue. You may be led to believe that all you will need to be able to do is: briefly state the nature of your dispute organize any evidence and witnesses you think will help back up your version of events come to court on time be polite, and let the judge decide if your case is any good.

Below is a list of the most common legal theories for small claims court cases and what you need to prove to establish each one. Before deciding to sue, you should consider whether the facts of your case fit the requirements of at least one of them. Unfortunately, the mere fact that you have suffered a trauma at the hands of another person does not automatically entitle you to a legal judgment.

The law must support your contention that you were harmed by the illegal actions of another. Talk to a Lawyer Need a lawyer? Start here. Practice Area Please select Zip Code. How it Works Briefly tell us about your case Provide your contact information Choose attorneys to contact you.

Lawsuits and Court. Filing a Lawsuit. Representing Yourself. Working With a Lawyer. How to Find a Lawyer. Cost of a Lawyer. Everybody's Guide to Small Claims Court. Represent Yourself in Court. See All Lawsuits and Court Articles. Related Products More. View More. Get Professional Help. The law treats slander differently from libel.

With slander, you have to show you suffered a financial loss to get compensation, unless the communication:. The law protects a person's reputation, but this protection can clash with other rights, such as the right to free expression. Sometimes, even though someone makes a defamatory statement that harms a person's reputation, the law considers freedom of expression to be more worthy of protection. The following are defences to an action for defamation.

A statement may hurt your reputation, but if the statement is true, that is a complete defence to an action for defamation.

The person who made the statement can defend their statement by proving it is more likely true than not. Freedom of speech without fear of consequences is considered critical for the effective administration of justice. A statement made in judicial proceedings is protected by a defence of absolute privilege. This is a complete and unqualified defence to an action for defamation. This defence protects defamatory statements made in a civil lawsuit. It covers statements made in court, as well as all preparatory steps, including court filings and examinations for discovery.

Absolute privilege also protects defamatory statements made in all stages of a criminal case. For example, a complaint to the police is protected by absolute privilege — as long as the complaint is not repeated to others. Absolute privilege also protects a person who makes a defamatory statement in a quasi-judicial proceeding , like a hearing before a professional regulatory body such as the Law Society of BC. And absolute privilege protects statements in Parliament.

But absolute privilege does not protect a person who repeats their statement outside of the court or judicial process. A defamatory statement made in performing a public or private duty can be protected by qualified privilege. The protection only applies to statements made to people with a corresponding interest in receiving the statement.

An example of qualified privilege is when a previous employer provides a bad reference to a potential employer. If the previous employer honestly believes what they are saying in providing the bad reference, then qualified privilege may protect them in giving the bad reference. The duty can be legal, social, or moral.

The test is whether a person of ordinary intelligence would think a duty existed to communicate the information to the audience it was made to. There are no exact rules on when qualified privilege arises. It depends on the facts of a case. If the communication is made under qualified privilege , the defence applies even when very strong language is used, or the statement is false.

It is hard to rely on this defence for statements made on the internet because the defence protects a person only if they limit their defamatory statements to people who have an interest in hearing the communication. Defamatory statements on the internet are not limited this way. Instead, they go to the public at large. So they do not meet this test unless it is a matter the public would be interested in, or the communication is on a members-only site or service and not open to the public.

We all are free to comment — even harshly — about issues of public interest , as long as we are clear that our comments are:. For example, a newspaper columnist may write about a politician who says they support equality and equal rights, but are opposed to same-sex marriages. The columnist may write that the politician is hypocritical. If the politician sues the columnist for defamation, the columnist may put forward the defence of fair comment.

A more recent defence to libel claims deals with reporting on matters of public interest. This defence , which looks at the whole context of a situation, can apply if:. The defence of innocent dissemination is important in the internet era.

Generally, a person who takes part in publishing a defamatory statement is responsible for its publication. This includes a writer, editor, printer, and distributor.

But a person who acts only as a distributor may be able to rely on the defence of innocent dissemination if they:. It must be brought within two years of the defamation. This window of time is the limitation period. The clock starts running when the defamatory statement was made or published. For details, see our information on starting a lawsuit. Going to BC Supreme Court is expensive. Even if you win, you may spend more on legal fees than you get in damages. Here are the main ones:.

As you'd expect, the cases that come to this Court involve smaller amounts of money. This includes all claims listed on the statement of claim, no matter how many defendants there are, and it includes the value of any goods that the plaintiff is asking for. It does not include any interest or expenses that the plaintiff might be entitled to. The expenses that anyone can claim in Small Claims Court are quite limited and, in many cases, they amount to no more than the filing fee and the cost of document service.

There are some kinds of cases that can't be handled in Small Claims Court, no matter how little money is involved. Cases involving landlord and tenant issues, defamation cases meaning claims of libel or slander , and lawsuits and cases involving title to land cannot be heard in Small Claims Court.

There are also limitations on how long you have to bring a case to court. Information on this is available in the Limitations Act. Some cases have had an order made in another court and the orders are filed in the Small Claims Court to collect the outstanding debt. These might include an order for restitution made in a criminal court or an order relating to the Residential Tenancy Act. In these cases, creditors file the judgment in the Small Claims Court so that they can use any of the available enforcement options to collect the debt.

If you are trying to enforce an order relating to the Residential Tenancy Act, please first consult the " ServiceNL website. The if you have a problem " section describes how to handle issues between landlords and tenants. He agreed to pay it back in six months. She has tried writing and calling him, but he avoids her. The first thing Jane has to do is get a statement of claim from the Small Claims Court registry closest to her located at any Provincial Court in the province and fill it out.

The instructions are all included with the form. She could also find the form that she needs to fill out online. This form can be completed online and then printed, or Jane could print out the form and fill it out by hand. Since she will need to give copies of the forms to several different parties, she should ensure that five copies are printed. Once the form is filled out, Jane takes all five copies of the form to the Small Claims Court registry, where a staff member behind the counter checks it for her.

She pays the filing fee and the clerk gives her back several copies of the form and a blank reply form. This whole process is called "filing" the statement of claim. It is also possible for Jane to file her claim electronically, using the Court's e-Filing system. The blank reply form and one of the copies of the statement of claim is for John. This will tell him what the lawsuit is about and will give him the form he needs to answer it.

Jane knows that he is avoiding her, so she asks a friend to take the papers to John. As long as John is living in the province he has 10 days, from the day he received the papers, to file his reply.

If John lives outside of Newfoundland and Labrador, he has 30 days to reply instead. When John receives the statement of claim, he is upset.

John agrees that he owes Jane some money, but disagrees with her on how much he should have to pay. John fills out the reply form. He denies that he owes any interest and asks for a payment schedule. John takes the completed form to the Small Claims Court registry where Jane filed the statement of claim the address that was on the form.

The staff checks the form and accepts it for filing. There is no fee for filing the reply.