Tort laws offer remedies to the plaintiff …show more content…
Colloquium can be important in establishing a cause of action because the plaintiff will have no cause of action unless the plaintiff can establish that the defamation was reasonably understood to apply to the plaintiff.
If the defamatory statement is in written form it is called libel; if the defamatory statement is published through the spoken word it is called slander. In both libel and slander, other than slander per se, the plaintiff must show special damages as a result of the defamation. Special damages are damages of a pecuniary nature, such as loss of a job or loss of customers or business.
Libel per se is a statement which is clearly defamatory on its face. Inducement and innuendo are not needed to establish the fact that the statement is defamatory. Conversely libel per quad is not defamatory on its face but requires inducement and innuendo to establish the …show more content…
Moskin Stores, Inc., 272 Ala. 174 (Ala. 1961), these are:
1. Invading on the plaintiff’s physical isolation
2. Giving the plaintiff attention which violates their ordinary decencies
3. Placing the plaintiff in a false position, even though it’s not quite defamatory in the public eye
4. Misuse of the plaintiff’s personality for commercial
In terms of privacy invasion a good case is Dietemann v. Time, Inc. (1971). The case involves Life Magazine (defendants) who were investigating doctors who were practicing medicine illegally. Life magazine was using their reporters to go as undercover patients with audio and camera equipment to uncover these illegal practices. One of the doctors was Dietemann (Plaintiff) who was practicing medicine in his house. An undercover patient equipped with a listening device was transmitting audio outside to police, and they managed to catch his operation and arrest him. Dietemann later sued Life Magazine for invasion of privacy, the court made a decision to rule in Dietemann favor because “The First Amendment gives the media no right to break the law with impunity, even if legitimate news is being pursued” (Dietemann v. Time, Inc. (1971), secondly the “reporters are not protected by the First Amendment when they commit crimes or torts.” Dietemann was awarded $1000 as