Legal Question in Criminal Law in Alabama

Re: Defamation or Not?

In order to prevail in a defamation action, a plaintiff must necessarily prove four elements: (1) a false and defamatory statement of fact (not opinion) concerning another; (2) an unprivileged publication to a third party; (3) fault (negligence or greater) on the part of the publisher; and (4) resulting injury. Trentecosta v. Beck, 96-2388 (La.10/21/97), 703 So. 2d 552, 559. The plaintiff must prove that the defendant, with actual malice or other fault, published a false statement with defamatory words which caused plaintiff damages. Sassone v. Elder, 626 So. 2d 345, 350 (La. 1993).

A pure statement of opinion based totally on the speaker's subjective view, which does not expressly state or imply the existence of underlying facts, usually is not actionable in defamation, because falsity is an indispensable element of any defamation claim and a purely subjective statement can be neither true nor false. Bussie v. Lowenthal, 535 So. 2d 378, 381 (La. 1988).

An expression of opinion is actionable only if it implies the existence of underlying facts ascertainable by a reasonable person with some degree of certainty, and the implied factual assertions are false, defamatory, made with actual malice, and concern another. Fitzgerald v. Tucker, 98-2313, p. 12 (La. 6/29/99), 737 So. 2d 706, 717.

The crucial difference between statement of fact and opinion depends upon whether ordinary persons hearing or reading the matter complained of would be likely to understand it as an expression of the speaker's or writer's opinion, or as a statement of existing fact." Mashburn v. Collin, 355 So. 2d 879, 885 (La. 1977).

In your case, I would not be too concerned. To think otherwise would mean that no one could safely report a crime and inform the police of a potential and likely suspect. Even more significantly, truth is a perfect defense.