A newspaper won a libel lawsuit against a recidivist pro se claimant. The case answers the question: Is It Defamatory to Call A Lawsuit Frivolous?

Investigative Report Leads To Defamation Lawsuit

A journalist with a yen for investigative budget reporting penned a piece for his local newspaper on taxpayer costs associated with low-income, pro se litigants who get court fees waived. In it, the reporter bemoaned “continued filing of duplicative, vexations, or frivolous appeals, mandamus petitions or motions.”

Furious over the characterization, and ignoring the irony, one of the featured filers sued the reporter, paper,  and its publishers for libel.

The claim remonstrates:

“They omitted factual references regarding the status of eight pending cases that had resulted in three judgments in the plaintiff’s favor. The defendants’ publication created a false light and defamatory misrepresentation of the plaintiff with the intent to manipulate third parties’s opinion of him.”

Is it Defamatory to call a lawsuit “Frivolous”?

Does the plaintiff have a solid defamation case?

In a word, “No.” And a judge confirmed as much.

To win a defamation lawsuit in the United States, plaintiffs must prove more than a misstatement of fact; they must also prove harm, in addition to negligence or intent.

Opinion is not Defamatory

Opinion is not defamatory under United States law. For a statement to be deemed legally libelous or slanderous, it must:

• Be a significant false statement of fact;
• Have caused the plaintiff material or reputational harm; and
• Have been distributed, published or broadcast with reckless disregard for the truth or actual malice.

The judge, though, didn’t delve into the obscure depths of case law to rule in this case. Why? Because the statement with which Traylor took issue was “pure opinion” and, therefore, legal. In the language of the opinion (via source):

“The…defendants also argue that describing [the] lawsuit as frivolous is an expression of opinion and not a statement of fact giving rise to a defamation claim.

“Although an opinion may appear to be in the form of a factual statement, it remains an opinion if it is clear from the context that the maker is not intending to assert another objective fact but only his personal comment on the facts which he stated.”

Further Reading and Defamation Lawyer Contact Information

Defamation is misunderstood. People mistakenly think that a simple typo or insignificant misstatement qualifies as slander or libel. But defamation law is much more nuanced.

If you think you have been defamed and want to explore legal avenues, get in touch today.