Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Florida
ffalse statement signed and submitted to a courtI
I was recently involved in a court case with my mother, my ex wife appeared on my mothers behalf, she submitted a signed document to the court accusing me of social security fraud. this is not true and is completely unsubstantiated. she based her statement on the fact that I can still ride a motorcycle while drawing disability. I would like to know if I can take sosme action against her. Thanks for ypour time.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: ffalse statement signed and submitted to a courtI
Usually you would be entitled to a defamation claim, but not in this case.
Generally in order to claim defamation the plaintiff must show 4 things:
1. A false and defamatory statement concerning him;
2. A communicating of that statement to a person other than the plaintiff;
3. Fault on the part of the defendant, amounting to at least negligence;
4. Special harm or harm of a pecuniary nature.
In your case since she accused you of a crime it would be considered "slander per se", meaning you don't have to show special harm.
Unfortunately, since she made the statement as a witness during the course of a judicial proceeding she has an absolute privelege as to what she said even if it was motivated soley by malice or other bad motive.