Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Pennsylvania
Drawing the Line Between Defamation and Incompetence
MY question is, where is the line drawn when a company does not perform to contract or does a really bad job and deserves criticism? I contacted our homeowners association management company, Board of Directors and the landscape company both by phone and letter of complaint. The landscape company has destroyed numerous plants and trees on our property over the past two years, along with other damages, due to the total incompetence and lack of management of its workers.
In response to my last letter, the company (to put it bluntly) told me to shut up or they would sue me for defamation of character and slander. THEY are the ones who have done wrong, yet I'm not allowed to complain or say anything about it or protect my property from further destruction? Can they legally do this? What am I supposed to do? [fyi...as proof of the horrible messes they've made and trees/plants/bushes they've destroyed, I have pictures. Would that constitute enough proof of my complaints being true and not slanderous? Since they are true, but could hurt this company's reputation (through their own fault), am I still then guilty of defamation of character? Thanks.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Drawing the Line Between Defamation and Incompetence
A company can another person for defamation if things were said or written which blacken the character of the company in the community. In PA you have only one year to file suit after the things were said or written.
An absolute defense to defamation (which means the company cannot win at all) is if the statements were true. So if you only tell the truth then you are safe from any defamation judgments. However, you broached the important subject--how do you prove it was true. Basically, the way you prove any other case. Witnesses besides yourself are good, admissions from the company that they did wrong are good, photographic evidence that they did wrong is good, etc. But you must keep in mind that a lot of times it comes down to he said/she said issues.
I hope this helps.
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