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Legal Eagle

Defamation

Q: Can I be sued if I complain online about someone?

If I complain online about an agent, producer or colleague, can I be sued even if I'm telling the truth about them?

A: First of all, anyone can sue anyone for anything within reason. What matters is the likelihood or otherwise of a successful outcome, which I assume is the point of your question.

If your complaint is of an inoffensive nature, such as a failure to answer letters, or discuss an issue with you or to offer you a part in a play for which you believe yourself to be best suited, it will not matter so far as concerns liability for making the complaint, whether your complaint is justified or not, because no cause of action will lie against you simply for the act of complaining. Similarly, if you pursue your complaint in good faith by direct private communication with the other party concerned or through a solicitor or by judicial proceedings, that would be regarded as 'privileged' communication through legitimate channels, even if ultimately found to be potentially defamatory and unjustified.

However, where you would be vulnerable is if your complaint is made online and is of such a nature that, were it to be untrue, it would be defamatory to the person or party you are complaining about, in the sense that it would or might be regarded as a slur on their reputation, as tending to bring them into hatred, ridicule or contempt. In such a case you would be exposing yourself to an action for libel which could possibly involve you in having to pay damages and legal costs and being made the subject of a restraining order (injunction) against repetition.

You might be telling the truth, and if that were so and you could prove it, then you would have a good defence. However, telling the truth is one thing and being able to prove it in a court of law is another. In a libel suit, the burden of proof would be on you to establish truth 'on the balance of probabilities' as a good defence. Furthermore, it would be used against you as evidence of malice that there was no need for you to publicise your complaint by broadcasting it online, when you have other, legitimate means of airing your complaint as indicated above. If your online complaint were found to be both defamatory and malicious, the element of malice and the unnecessarily wide publicity which you chose to give to it would greatly inflate the amount of damages awarded against you, so you would be taking a very big risk indeed.

My advice to you is to air your complaint if you must but confine yourself to doing so through legitimate channels - and certainly not online, for which I cannot see that there would be any excuse, unless of course you were merely defending yourself legitimately in the same medium against an online allegation made against you, which would be another matter entirely and one on which you should seek legal advice before responding.

First published 12th October 2006