Legal Question in Personal Injury in Massachusetts

We live in a 20-unit townhouse community, where my husband serves as the treasurer of our homeowner association board. He was voted onto the board at an annual meeting several years ago. Each year at the annual meeting he provides a very detailed typed notice to all owners regarding what money was spent, what it was spent on, how much money we began the year with, how much we're ending with, etc. Every penny is broken down on this report. It's very time consuming for him to create, and not required by our bylaws, but he does it as a courtesy to the owners. Board members are not paid for their service, but due to an addition to the Association policies long before we moved in, treasurer is a paid position because of all of the transactions involved (handling monthly homeowner fees, dealing with delinquencies and foreclosure issues, handling tax paperwork, etc). As payment for his duties as treasurer he receives a monthly amount equal to the amount of our condo fee, which is currently a very low $180.

We have a neighbor who was serving as property manager (also receiving a monthly payment equal to the amount of the condo fee). She had to be relieved of her position several months ago because she refused to perform any of the duties outlined in the job description, and was consistently breaking many of the association rules on a regular basis. Since then she has been consistently late paying her condo fees.

Last week this neighbor sent my husband a text message questioning why she was being charged late fees on her delinquent condo fees, and demanded a breakdown of where every penny has gone this year. My husband explained to her that she would receive it at the annual meeting but he would not be able to provide it before then. She proceeded to accuse him of hiding something, to which my husband, at that point angrily responded by sarcastically saying, "Yeah, I'm stealing it." She then, in writing in a text message, told him that she not only believes this to be true, citing the fact that we both traded in our cars this year for new models, but that she has discussed it with at least four other owners, all of whom, according to her, have said the same thing, that because we both have new cars we are stealing money from the association.

After hearing of this exchange I immediately called her to discuss the matter. She informed me that she didn't say it (even though it's in writing because she sent it via text message.) When I pressed her she then proceeded to tell me about a conversation she had with another neighbor (whom she wouldn't name, but gave enough details that I know exactly whom she was referring to), where they discussed the fact that they believe we are stealing money and hiding information from the other owners. This conversation, according to her, took place at a child's birthday part in a public setting, and also several times at their children's bus stop.

She also stated that she had the discussion with three other homeowners, although I question her credibility, since the only owner she named is someone who moved away over a year before we bought our cars, and who is currently going through a foreclosure.

This woman's careless and untrue words are hurting my husband's reputation, and mine as well. On top of that, these are untrue allegations of a criminal act, so I consider them much worse than just idle gossip spread by a bad neighbor. I know slander and defamation suits are very hard to prove, but what would be required for this to hold up in court? And is there any legal way to get her to stop making vicious, untrue statements? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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