Defamation Personal Injury Claim Compensation
By: Nigel Thomas | Posted: 15th April 2009
A lot of people, upon hearing the utterance of the word 'defaming,' naturally assume that the term is exclusive to people that have some sort of elevated public profile: they assume that to be defamed, it is necessary, firstly, to be famous. This is not the case, and in order to be defamed, a person simply needs to be the victim of defamation of character. Defamation of character is when the written or spoken words of a person, act to harm the reputation of another. For such an occurance to be perceived as defamation of character, it has to be a case of the spoken or written words being falsified.
It is not solely the famous that get involved in defamation of character, and it is not just the media that commit acts that can be construed as defamation of character. It is possible for one person to act in a defamatory matter towards another person, and it happens a great deal more often than the average person may realise. In fact, the average person may not even have noticed in the past that they have been the victim of defaming.
Defamation of character is subdivided into two separate categories and these categories denote whether an act of defamation has been spoken, or written. If an act of defamation comes in the form of the spoken word then it would be referred to by the term slander: it is a slanderous statement. Therefore if an act of defamation comes in the form of the written word, then it would be referred to by the term libel: it would be a libellous statement. It is of course possible, for a person to suffer as the result of a combination of both.
When it comes to a person making a claim for personal injury in relation to a claim for defamation of character, then that person can make a claim for punitive damages, and that person can also make a claim for actual damages. When it comes to actual damages then this is a reference to claiming compensation for the monetary loss that a victim has suffered as a result of defaming. With punitive damages, the compensation awarded is specifically to punish the person that has committed the act of defamation.
Boundaries have been set in relation to defamation of character, and so therefore it must be proved that the words of another have had a lasting and profound effect on the person who the words have been said or written about. Therefore outbursts that may include insulting. Derogatory marks will usually fail to hold their own in a court of law: this is widely perceived by the legal system as a show of emotion that lacks any real integrity. If you feel that you have been the victim of defaming then it is necessary to hire a legal professional that specified in defamation of character.
Make your personal injury claim today if you have suffered defamation
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Tags: firstly, average person, reputation, acts, spoken word, personal injury, punitive damages, utterance, claiming compensation, libel, monetary loss