libel advice

[cantfindamnnickname]

another "professional" person has made comments to a meeting and during the course of that meeting called me an "abuser" - this relates to children matters.

I am so cross - it is completely untrue, potentially damaging to my reputation as a professional and a mother.

Not really sure what to do about this at the moment - any legal bods around with specific experience of libel/slander

The meetings are minuted and therefore i may actually be able to prove it

If the meeting was a child protection conference I'd suspect it is one of those privileged statements. Not a libel lawyer though, just a family hack.

Agree with Collaborate. It would be qualified privilege which means that a prosecution would only be successful if you could show that the person making the comments did so out of malice.

If the meeting was not a child protection conference you may have a case but it still depends on the nature of the meeting. As it was spoken it would be slander, not libel.

There are two possible causes of action: slander for the speaking of the words during the meeting and libel for the publications (if any) made by circulating any minutes that recorded the allegation.

It is likely the meeting was a privileged occasion so you would probably have to prove the speaker was malicious (knew what he said was false; or didn't care whether it was true or false; or said it because of a dominant improper motive-eg. just to get at you and not for any proper reason connected with his job or the meeting).

You really need to get a specialist in this sort of law to advise you.

thanks - it was definately malicious - there is no way i am any kind of child abuser! It was a core assessment meeting i think.

Either way I would ask for clarification from them, and why the allegation was made, proof, witnesses etc. If they can't substantiate these allegations you should ask for the records to be amended.

I think they would claim for sure this is qualified privilege as a child is involved, but should still answer your query.

I think a more important matter would be to clear up misunderstandings between yourselves and the professionals, rather than thinking about sueing for slander. Would a solicitor specialising in childrens law/welfare cases be able to mediate/represent you?

It is true that the minutes would be libel but action would then be against the person who took and circulated the minutes rather than the person who made the statement.

It does sound like qualified privilege applies, in which case it would probably apply to both the statement in the meeting and the minutes of the meeting. If the minutes of the meeting are an accurate record it would seem to be clear that the person who took them was not acting out of malice, so in my view an action against them for libel would fail.

You say it was definitely malicious as there is no way you are any kind of child abuser. I'm afraid that isn't enough to establish that the allegation was malicious. If at the time they made the statement they believed it was true then, however mistaken that belief, it was not malicious. You would have to show that the person making the statement knew that it was untrue or didn't care whether or not it was true and that their motive in making this statement was to damage you and not, given the context, because they were concerned to protect children.

If you are serious about wanting to sue for slander or libel you need to take proper advice from a lawyer who specialises in this area.

action would then be against the person who took and circulated the minutes rather than the person who made the statement.

No. You could join the minute-taker if you wanted, but still sue the originator of the statement, since recording in the minutes and circulation of the minutes are foreseeable republications of the slander.

Malice is incredibly hard to prove. It would require a lot more than simply proving the allegation was untrue, as prh says. It is about establishing bad faith in the mind of the person who made the allegation. That's why this kind of legal action is not something to be undertaken lightly.

And only if you've thousands of pounds to waste!