Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Hi there--ouch, how miserable!

Your question basically is whether you and this nasty fellow have defamation claims against each other. It works the same for each of you: there has to be a statement, it has to be defamatory (to me his statements against you sound "defamatory per se" under Va. law), it has to be published, and it has to have caused some sort of demonstrable harm. The statements don't have to be made with actual malice--that's only for public figures, which I assume he isn't. The "substantial truth" of the statement is always a defense, so it sounds like you're on pretty solid ground if he should sue you--even if they fire him, which seems to me unlikely anyway since this will look to most employers like a private dispute unrelated to his job performance. I hope that offers you some reassurance.

The other question is whether you've got all the elements of a defamation claim against him. Sounds like we can't tell whether the misery has stopped, but we'd have to be able to prove all the elements I mentioned, then be able to demonstrate and measure the harm, which'll be hard. Also, keep in mind that any remedy we get won't necessarily undo all the reputational damage he's done; we can get a court order to stop him from doing it any more, maybe make him send the order and a written apology to people he's defamed you to, and make him pay money. That may not be satisfying enough to justify a huge investment of time and money of your own.

If you want to bat it around some more, you can write me at [email protected], or we can have a low-cost in-person or phone consult. Meanwhile, here's a quick primer on Va. defamation law for you: http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/virginia-defamation-law.

Best wishes, hang in there, and feel free to send me other clients if not you. --Steve Pershing.