Legal Question in Personal Injury in Louisiana
Falsely Credited for a Direct Quote
Someone wrote an email to me in repsonse to an email I sent to him. He adressed the email to me and cc'd several members of an organization my family was associated with. In the email, this person made several defaming remarks about me and my husband. He also misquoted me. He wrote a statement he claimed I made and put it in quotations as if it were something I said word for word. He started the statement with ''and I quote'' then proceeded to misquote me. My question is, can you credit someone with a direct quote in an email if you have no record or transcript of the conversation? The quote he credited to me is completely false.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Falsely Credited for a Direct Quote
People can write whatever they want, whether it is true or not. However, if what they write is FALSE, they know it is false, it is published to the general public, and it causes damages, then the writer could be liable for money damages....
Even if the writer did not know what they wrote was false, if they passed it along to persons who do not have a unique "need to know" or because of your position in the community you are not considered a public figure, then the "honest mistake" may still result in the writer being liable for money damages if in fact the writing caused damages.....