Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

One can always be sued .Whether or not it could be successful is the question.

Truth is an absolute defense to a libel or slander case and the slanderous comment must be published. In this case it depends on whether or not your comments are truthful and whether this twelve year old tells anybody .Then you get into hearsay issues.The answer to your question is yes you can be sued, successfully?Nobody can answer that question with the information provided.Credibility issues come into play also.

I agree with Mr. Nelson. Additionally, if the judge or jury believes your version of events, it would be hard to hold you liable for defamation even if the statements really are defamatory. After all, you did not publish them intentionally. It would be hard to deem statement that you did not intend to make public defamatory after someone else unforeseeably publishes it. The key word there is "unforeseeably". If you should have realized this could happen and did not adequately guard against it, you might be liable. It is also possible, of course, that the judge or jury will reject your explanation of what happened and find that you intentionally used the child to spread statements which you were unwilling to spread on your own.

If you think there is a real risk you will be sued, you should meet with a lawyer and discuss your options.