Is there anything I can do if the sheriffs department is slandering my name?
Full Question:
Is there anything I can do if the sheriffs department is slandering my name?
06/15/2007 |
Category: Civil Actions ยป Defamation |
State: California |
#6456
Answer:
Depending on the facts of your case, the sheriff and other public officers who work for the department may be immune from a lawsuit for slander. Immunity is an exemption granted by statute or government authorities from a legal duty, penalty or prosecution. Public officials may be protected from liability for decisions made in the course of their official duties and governmental or sovereign immunity may protect government agencies from lawsuits unless the government agrees to be sued.
The applicable California statutes are as follows:
§ 44 Civ.
Defamation is effected by either of the following:
(a) Libel.
(b) Slander.
§ 46 Civ.
Slander is a false and unprivileged publication, orally uttered, and
also communications by radio or any mechanical or other means which:
1. Charges any person with crime, or with having been indicted,
convicted, or punished for crime;
2. Imputes in him the present existence of an infectious, contagious,
or loathsome disease;
3. Tends directly to injure him in respect to his office, profession,
trade or business, either by imputing to him general disqualification in
those respects which the office or other occupation peculiarly requires,
or by imputing something with reference to his office, profession,
trade, or business that has a natural tendency to lessen its profits;
4. Imputes to him impotence or a want of chastity; or 5. Which, by
natural consequence, causes actual damage.
§ 47 Civ.
A privileged publication or broadcast is one made:
(a) In the proper discharge of an official duty.
(b) In any (1) legislative proceeding, (2) judicial proceeding, (3) in
any other official proceeding authorized by law, or (4) in the initiation
or course of any other proceeding authorized by law and reviewable
pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1084) of Title 1 of Part 3
of the Code of Civil Procedure, except as follows:
(1) An allegation or averment contained in any pleading or affidavit
filed in an action for marital dissolution or legal separation made of or
concerning a person by or against whom no affirmative relief is prayed in
the action shall not be a privileged publication or broadcast as to the
person making the allegation or averment within the meaning of this
section unless the pleading is verified or affidavit sworn to, and is
made without malice, by one having reasonable and probable cause for
believing the truth of the allegation or averment and unless the
allegation or averment is material and relevant to the issues in the
action.
(2) This subdivision does not make privileged any communication made in
furtherance of an act of intentional destruction or alteration of
physical evidence undertaken for the purpose of depriving a party to
litigation of the use of that evidence, whether or not the content of the
communication is the subject of a subsequent publication or broadcast
which is privileged pursuant to this section. As used in this paragraph,
"physical evidence" means evidence specified in Section 250 of the
Evidence Code or evidence that is property of any type specified in
Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 2031.010) of Title 4 of Part 4 of the
Code of Civil Procedure.
(3) This subdivision does not make privileged any communication made in
a judicial proceeding knowingly concealing the existence of an insurance
policy or policies.
(4) A recorded lis pendens is not a privileged publication unless it
identifies an action previously filed with a court of competent
jurisdiction which affects the title or right of possession of real
property, as authorized or required by law.
(c) In a communication, without malice, to a person interested
therein, (1) by one who is also interested, or (2) by one who stands in
such a relation to the person interested as to afford a reasonable ground
for supposing the motive for the communication to be innocent, or (3) who
is requested by the person interested to give the information. This
subdivision applies to and includes a communication concerning the job
performance or qualifications of an applicant for employment, based upon
credible evidence, made without malice, by a current or former employer
of the applicant to, and upon request of, one whom the employer
reasonably believes is a prospective employer of the applicant. This
subdivision authorizes a current or former employer, or the employer's
agent, to answer whether or not the employer would rehire a current or
former employee. This subdivision shall not apply to a communication
concerning the speech or activities of an applicant for employment if the
speech or activities are constitutionally protected, or otherwise
protected by Section 527.3 of the Code of Civil Procedure or any other
provision of law.
(d)(1) By a fair and true report in, or a communication to, a public
journal, of (A) a judicial, (B) legislative, or (C) other public official
proceeding, or (D) of anything said in the course thereof, or (E) of a
verified charge or complaint made by any person to a public official,
upon which complaint a warrant has been issued.
(2) Nothing in paragraph (1) shall make privileged any communication to
a public journal that does any of the following:
(A) Violates Rule 5-120 of the State Bar Rules of Professional
Conduct.
(B) Breaches a court order.
(C) Violates any requirement of confidentiality imposed by law.
(e) By a fair and true report of (1) the proceedings of a public
meeting, if the meeting was lawfully convened for a lawful purpose and
open to the public, or (2) the publication of the matter complained of was
for the public benefit.
§ 48.9 Civ.
(a) An organization which sponsors or conducts an anonymous witness
program, and its employees and agents, shall not be liable in a civil
action for damages resulting from its receipt of information regarding
possible criminal activity or from dissemination of that information to a
law enforcement agency.
(b) The immunity provided by this section shall apply to any civil
action for damages, including, but not limited to, a defamation action or
an action for damages resulting from retaliation against a person who
provided information.
(c) The immunity provided by this section shall not apply in any of the
following instances:
(1) The information was disseminated with actual knowledge that it was
false.
(2) The name of the provider of the information was disseminated
without that person's authorization and the dissemination was not
required by law.
(3) The name of the provider of information was obtained and the
provider was not informed by the organization that the disclosure of his
or her name may be required by law.
(d) As used in this section, an "anonymous witness program" means a
program whereby information relating to alleged criminal activity is
received from persons, whose names are not released without their
authorization unless required by law, and disseminated to law enforcement
agencies.
§ 821.6 Gov't.
A public employee is not liable for injury caused by his
instituting or prosecuting any judicial or administrative proceeding
within the scope of his employment, even if he acts maliciously and
without probable cause.
§ 820.2 Gov't.
Except as otherwise provided by statute, a public employee is not
liable for an injury resulting from his act or omission where the act
or omission was the result of the exercise of the discretion vested
in him, whether or not such discretion be abused.
