Defamation

Subscribe to Defamation via RSS

When law firms break up, litigation often follows.  The case of Merritt, Flebotte, Wilson, Webb & Caruso, PLLC v. Hemmings, decided Tuesday by the North Carolina Court of Appeals, involved claims between lawyers of defamation and violation of a nondisparagement provision in a settlement agreement.

The Defendants had left the Plaintiff’s firm to start their own practice. The Plaintiff sued them over sharing of fees and reimbursement of costs. The fighting lawyers settled the first lawsuit. A nondisparagement provision was included in their settlement agreement.

Then came round two. …

Continue Reading Nondisparagement Provision Wasn’t Violated By “Barroom Gossip”

The Business Court dismissed on a Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings an unfair and deceptive practices claim stemming from a dispute between members of a limited liability company.

CDC, a minority member of the LLCs, argued that the member owning a 70% interest, Grimmer, had removed CDC as a manager and had made unnecessary capital calls in order to force CDC out of the LLC.  CDC also alleged that it had been defamed by Grimmer, that Grimmer had taken steps to cause banks to freeze the accounts of the…

Continue Reading Reid Pointe, LLC v. Stevens, 2008 NCBC 15 (N.C. Super. Ct. August 18, 2008)

Today, in Nucor Corp. v. Prudential Equity Group, LLC, the Court of Appeals affirmed the 12(b)(6) dismissal of a claim for libel per se against a securities firm. 

The firm had published a report about the plaintiff which stated that antitrust lawsuits against the company were possible, and that the company needed to give up its "monopoly dreams." 

The Court held that in order for words to be libelous per se, they "must be susceptible of but one meaning and of such nature that the court can presume as…

Continue Reading Court Of Appeals Affirms Dismissal Of Business Defamation Case

The Court dismissed a defamation claim.  It found that the claims were not plead with sufficient particularity (omitting in some instances to state to whom the statements were made and when they were made).  One allegedly defamatory statement was subject to an absolute privilege, which covers "not only . . . statements made in the course of a pending judicial proceeding but also . . .  communications relevant to proposed judicial proceedings.”

Full OpinionContinue Reading International Legwear Group, Inc. v. Legassi Int’l Group, January 2, 2008 (Diaz)(unpublished)

The Court granted a Motion to Dismiss a claim for slander, ruling that plaintiff had failed to plead the allegedly defamatory statement with sufficient particularity. It held that, although plaintiff was not required to plead the words verbatim, it was required to plead them either substantially as they were said or at least with sufficient particularity to determine whether the statement was defamatory. The Court held that "it would be unduly harsh to require defendants to venture a response to weighty allegations of slander couched only in the most general…

Continue Reading Webb Builders, LLC v. Jones, January 24, 2002 (Tennille)(unpublished)

Plaintiff sued a departed employee, alleging that she had violated her confidentiality agreement and her non-competition agreement. The Court found defendant’s new employer had not tortiously interfered with her contract. It found the provision on which plaintiff relied, restricting its employees from providing services to any of its clients for 180 days following the termination of employment, to be invalid, because it attempted to restrict defendant from providing services to any client of her former employer, even those with whom she had no contact during her employment.

The Court found…

Continue Reading CNC/Access, Inc. v. Scruggs, 2006 NCBC 20 (N.C. Super. Ct. Nov. 15, 2006)(Tennille)

Plaintiff’s former employer had violated the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act by failing to pay her bonuses when due. The Court granted summary judgment on this claim in favor of the plaintiff.

The Court granted summary judgment against plaintiff on her slander claims, finding that she had neither pled nor proven the alleged slander with specificity. Plaintiff furthermore had no evidence of special damages.

Full OpinionContinue Reading Maurer v. Slickedit, Inc., 2005 NCBC 4 (N.C. Super. Ct. Aug. 12, 2005)(Tennille)

The defendant told its insureds that that could not have the plaintiff body shop repair their vehicles. The plaintiff sued for defamation.

The Court granted summary judgment on plaintiff’s claims of libel per se. The corporate plaintiff was unable to show that any potential customers regarded the claim as being defamatory on its face. The individual plaintiff, who was not named in the defamatory statement, was not entitled to argue that his name was highly identified with the company, or that he essentially "was the company" in the eyes of…

Continue Reading Pack Brothers Body Shop, Inc. v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 2003 NCBC 1 (N.C. Super. Ct. Jan. 10, 2003)(Tennille)