Clarification of Answer by
hagan-ga
on
12 May 2006 06:38 PDT
Ethansteven: Absolutely, but whether or not Teacher B would succeed
in such a lawsuit would depend on whether Teacher A was telling the
truth about where Teacher A got his information. Let me explain.
Your original scenario described Teacher A telling you private details
of Teacher B's life that he claimed to have received from Teacher B.
There are several possibilities:
--Teacher A was telling you the truth about where he heard these
details, AND he was accurately reporting what he heard, AND what he
heard was actually true. In that instance, no slander occurred,
because everything Teacher A said was a true statement. Truth is an
absolute defense to slander.
--Teacher A was telling you the truth about where he heard the story,
AND he was accurately reporting what he heard from Teacher B, BUT --
the story was untrue, because Teacher B had told an untrue story to
Teacher A in the first place. Teacher B would lose his lawsuit,
because Teacher A was not negligent in determining whether the story
was true or false. It was not unreasonable for Teacher A to believe
that what Teacher B told him was true. If Teacher B did not want the
story to get around, it was Teacher B's responsibility not to tell it
in the first place.
--Teacher A was telling you the truth about where he heard the story,
BUT -- he was not accurately reporting what he heard from Teacher B.
In other words, as in a game of "telephone," he either misremembered
or actively embellished the story. If Teacher A's version included
defamatory details that did not appear in Teacher B's version, I think
there's a good case for defamation there. For example, if Teacher B
had said only, "I'm attracted to Person X and I wish I could sleep
with her," and Teacher A had embellished that to something like,
"Teacher B told me that he slept with Person X," then Teacher A has
defamed Teacher B. Teacher A has made an untrue statement that
imputes unchastity and has damaged Teacher B's reputation.
--Of course, if Teacher A was making up the whole thing, including
where he got the story, then the defamation case is easy. And your
testimony is what establishes the fact of publication.
Note that your testimony is NOT HEARSAY. Hearsay is when second-hand
testimony is introduced to establish "the truth of the matter stated."
So Fred tells George that he slept with Lisa, and George repeats to
David that Fred says that he slept with Lisa. Now: Who can testify
to what? It depends on what you're trying to establish. Are you
trying to establish that Fred, in fact, did sleep with Lisa? THen
only Fred and Lisa can testify to it -- if George tries to testify
that Fred must have slept with Lisa because Fred said so, then George
is introducing Fred's statement as proof that what Fred said was true.
Hearsay.
BUT! If what you're trying to establish is that FRED SAID that he
slept with Lisa, (say if Lisa was suing Fred for defamation, so the
statement itself is the relevant "act"), then George's testimony comes
in, because George was a witness to the act of making the statement.
George isn't testifying that the statement was true, he's just
testifying that the statement was MADE.
But David's testimony is still hearsay, if David tries to testify
"George told me that Fred told him that Fred slept with Lisa."
Because now you're using David to introduce George's statement, in
order to prove that George heard Fred. David doesn't know whether
George heard Fred or not, because he wasn't there.
And it doesn't matter that Teacher A "privately" told you this. A
"private" publication to a third party is still a publication.
I hope this has been helpful. Hearsay issues are complicated and
difficult even for seasoned lawyers, so if you need any further
clarification, please don't hesitate to ask.
