Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

Re: defaming an employee

You may have a case. I don't know what you mean by "docket". While truth is a defense to defamation, there is an exeption I investigated a few years ago and it may have changed by now: when the third party discloses the information to the party (here, your new employer) for the sole purpose of harming your reputation, then the disclosing party may be liable for defamation. You would need a lawyer for this, the research is something that you probably would not be able to do on your own. Again, I investigated this tort several years ago and we dropped the case when the parties settled--the case law may have changed and PA may not follow this rule any longer even though it may be followed by other courts in other areas of the country.

One thing that you will need to prove is damages, and an attorney can talk to you about those as well. If you have suffered little damages, the case may not be worth bringing. When I worked for a corporation, ex-employees made up lies about us occasionally. But most of the time nobody believed them, they were perceived as bitter. Usually we just let it drop, since our damages were nonexistent.