Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Virginia

Re: Ethics or Legalities in Publishing

Roman a clef, as some of the literati might query? Hey, mon, not a problem!

Re: Ethics or Legalities in Publishing

First, of course, you can always be sued about

anything, perhaps as a frivolous lawsuit, or for

no reason at all. So, the real question is

whether or not someone might be able to win a

lawsuit.

If it is about your life, I assume that no one

could claim a copyright violation, since you

would be describing your own life in your own

words, so that would not be a problem.

The most obvious question is whether someone

could sue you for defamation or libel.

Of course, if what you describe is true (or is

opinion rather than a statement of fact) then

you would win any lawsuit against you. It is

not wrong to tell the truth about actual facts.

Even if you do not use names, if a person's

identity can be reasonably understood from the

description (and to an average person who knows

them, not requiring a detective or code breaker

to figure it out), then it does not matter

whether you use their name or not. But then

again, anything you say that is true is okay.

Also, if you say something negative that is

already generally known, it is not a problem. Or

rather they could sue and win, but get $0 in

damages. For example, if I wrote a letter to

the editor saying that Usama Bin Laden is a

terrorist, I would be safe for two reasons:

(a) he is and I am only describing what is true,

and (b) everyone already knows this, and my

statement would not CHANGE his reputation. If

my statement would case someone to have a bad

reputation, but they ALREADY HAVE a bad

reputation, then their damages are $0. For

example, if I say that Ted Kennedy sometimes

drinks a lot, this would be common knowledge, so

it would make no difference to his reputation.

To be non-partisan, the same could be said of

Jenna Bush, for example, that she likes to party

at bars. It was already international news, so

I would be safe in saying it again.

Finally, you need to consider whether anything

you want to write is covered by any past

employment contracts or lawsuit settlements or

would be trade secrets of any past employer.

Also, if you know information about someine

from a confidential position of trust (not just

being a friend or family but a legal fidicuiary

duty or something similar) then there is a slim

-- very slim -- chance that this could be some

kind of invasion of privacy, although hat is

very unlikely. For example, if you were the

trustee for someone's trust, and knew their

personal affairs as a result of your position as

trustee, you MIGHT have some restrictions, but

not many.