If someone has made a false statement that harmed your professional reputation, you may wonder whether you can bring a defamation lawsuit to address that harm. That question can become more complicated when the false statement requires context for recipients to understand whether it is defamatory.
You may have a claim for defamation per quod if the recipients understood the statement to be defamatory because they knew facts or circumstances that the statement itself did not express. To prove defamation per quod, you must prove that someone made a false statement, establish the context that gave the statement a defamatory meaning, and show that its publication caused specific financial losses.
Experienced Colorado defamation attorney Nicole Westbrook of Jones & Keller, P.C., represents clients in sophisticated, high-stakes defamation matters throughout Colorado. Her clients include physicians, executives, entrepreneurs, and investors whose reputations directly affect their careers and business interests. Nicole can evaluate a potential claim, preserve evidence, determine how recipients understood a statement, and develop a strategic response designed to protect your reputation and long-term professional interests.
For assistance, please don’t hesitate to call (303) 785-1666 or send an online message today.
When someone makes a false statement causing harm to your reputation, you may be able to bring a defamation claim to remedy that harm.
In Colorado, someone defames you if they:
You can defame someone verbally or in writing. Verbal defamation is slander, while written defamation is libel.
Defamation law often refers to communicating a statement to others as “publication.” You publish a statement for defamation purposes when you communicate it to a third party. You do not need to formally or publicly announce a statement to publish it. You can publish a statement verbally and in private.
Colorado law classifies defamatory statements as defamation per quod or defamation per se. Some false statements express a defamatory accusation directly, making them defamation per se. Others become defamatory only when recipients connect the words to context they know, making them defamation per quod.
Defamation per quod involves someone making a statement with a defamatory meaning that becomes apparent only when recipients connect it to additional facts or context outside the statement, also called extrinsic facts.
To successfully prove a defamation per quod case, you generally must prove the following elements:
Special damages are a particular legal category of damages. They cover identifiable monetary losses caused by the publication.
Depending on your circumstances, they may include:
Special damages do not cover harms like more general injury to your reputation, embarrassment, or emotional distress.
The following examples of defamation per quod illustrate how a potential claim may arise from an ambiguous statement and result in a financial loss.
Consider an investor who tells industry contacts that an executive “got another early look.” The phrase does not express an accusation by itself. If those contacts know that the speaker is referring to confidential acquisition information, they may understand the statement as accusing the executive of improperly accessing or using nonpublic information. If a company withdraws a documented employment offer due to that accusation, the resulting loss of compensation may constitute special damages.
Similarly, a hospital committee may understand a reference to using “the same process as last time” as an accusation that a physician previously accused of falsifying records has done so again. If the committee relies on that accusation when it restricts the physician’s hospital privileges, the physician may have a defamation per quod claim.
To establish that someone defamed you per quod, you provide the context that recipients knew, which allowed them to understand its defamatory nature. You explain what third parties reasonably understood, given that context.
Working with a defamation attorney allows you to connect how the legal elements of defamation apply to your circumstances. Even before you meet with your attorney, you can preserve evidence your claim may rely on. Save the complete communication, its surrounding context, and evidence of its consequences in the form that fits the statement, including the complete email chain, message thread, post, recording, or notes about the conversation.
Finally, preserve contracts, compensation records, withdrawn offers, patient or client departures, and other documents showing financial loss. A defamation attorney can help connect that evidence to the statement and take steps to obtain relevant information held by other people or organizations.
Defamation per quod is a false statement of fact that requires outside context to be understood as defamatory.
A statement may concern you without identifying you by name. You may be able to establish that recipients understood it as referring to you because of your position, connection to an event, or other contextual details.
Preserve the complete communication, identify its recipients, record the contextual information that those recipients knew, and document any resulting financial losses. An attorney can then evaluate how Colorado defamation applies to those facts.
An indirect accusation can have direct consequences for your career, business relationships, and financial interests. Nicole Westbrook represents physicians, executives, entrepreneurs, and investors in complex defamation matters throughout Colorado.
Contact her online or by calling (303) 785-1666 today, to discuss what someone said about you, learn how to preserve relevant evidence, and develop a strategic response to protect your reputation.
Legal References Used to Inform This Page
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