Defamatory Statements Must be Considered as a Whole, Not Piecemeal

Wednesday, January 28th, 2009 | Defamation

In Hyland v. Raytheon Technical Services Company decided January 16, 2009, the Virginia Supreme Court held that the whole alleged defamatory statement must be analyzed by the court to determine as a matter of law if it contains statements of provable false facts or just opinions.  Common law based on the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the Virginia Constitution protects statements of pure opinion, but false factual statements may be actionable as defamation.  Furthermore, opinion statements that imply provably false facts may also be actionable as defamation.  The judge sends alleged defamatory statements containing provably false factual statements to a jury to decide if they are actually defamatory.

Defamation is a false statement made to one or more third-parties that causes harm to a private person or their reputation.  The plaintiff must show that the speaker knew the falsity of the facts, lacked a reasonable basis for believing the facts were true, or was negligent in obtaining the facts. 

In this case, the employee appealed the Virginia circuit court’s decision not to send the allegedly defamatory statement to a jury.  The circuit court concluded that the plaintiff admitted to the factual statements.  However, the court excluded the defendant’s opinion statements.  The Virginia Supreme Court held that the circuit court improperly failed to consider the allegedly defamatory statements as a whole.  The court observed that the circuit court’s error denied the employee the right to submit evidence to prove the falsity of the statements and to have a jury decide if the statements as a whole were defamatory.

For information on The Employment Law Group® law firm’s Executive Compensation practice, click here.  To view the decision, Hyland v. Raytheon Technical Svcs. Co., Et al., No. 080157 (Va. Jan. 16, 2009), click here.