Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Can a cop be sued for slander?

There are a number of problems with the slander suit you have in mind, and most of them are fatal to your claim.

Part of the definition of slander is that the statement has to be made to a third person. A statement made to the person it is about can never be slanderous unless it is also heard by others.

Even then, another part of the definition is that the statement must be one of fact rather than an opinion or belief. The part about you having a mental condition could qualify, but probably would be deemed an opinion.

Further, a statement is only defamatory if it causes a third party who hears it to have a lower opinion of you than he did before. You have provided no facts to suggest that this happened.

Another part of the definition is that the statement has to be false. "Mental condition" is a somewhat ambiguous term, but I will assume that most people would equate it with mental illness. I don't know whether you actually are mentally ill, but if you are then this is yet another obstacle to your proposed claim.

Next, even if you could state a slander claim you would still have to overcome the officer's immunity. Police and many other government employees are immune from suit for actions necessary to their jobs. Questioning suspicious persons is part of a police officer's job, even if he does it in an unreasonably hostile manner. With more facts I might see a way around this problem here, but with what you have provided I'd say the officer is probably immune.

Finally, even if you could get past this problem, you would still have to prove that the statement imjured you. I alluded to this before when I mentioned that someone hearing the statement would lower their opinion of you; such harm to your reputation is the type of imjury you must prove. If you can't prove imjury but otherwise can prove your case you can still collect nominal damages -- meaning about $1.00. Even if you can show that your reputation was damaged, the amount of harm would probably be quite small. You would never be able to get a lawyer to spend many hours on a case in the hope of getting a percentage of such a small amount.

Sorry I can't be more encouraging.