§ 14-6 Defamation - Elements

• Library: South Carolina Requests to Charge - Civil (SCBar) (2016 Ed.)

§ 14-6 Defamation - Elements

To recover for defamation, the plaintiff must establish, by a preponderance of the evidence, that there was:

(1) a false and defamatory statement by the defendant concerning the plaintiff;
(2) an unprivileged publication by the defendant to a third party;
(3) fault on the defendant's part in publishing the statement; and
(4) either actionability of the statement irrespective of special harm or the existence of special harm to the plaintiff caused by the publication.

A communication is defamatory if it tends to harm the reputation of another as to lower him in the estimation of the community or to deter third persons from associating or dealing with him. In determining the defamatory character of language, the meaning of which is clear or otherwise determined, the social station of the parties in the community, the current standards of moral and social conduct prevalent therein, and the business, profession or calling of the parties are important factors. An imputation may be defamatory as applied to one person at a given time and place, although it would not be derogatory of another person at a different time or in a different place. To determine whether the words were defamatory, you should ask yourselves whether, taken as a whole, the words tend to diminish the respectability of the plaintiff-and to expose him to disgrace and ill repute.

The defamatory statement must be false. One who publishes a defamatory statement of fact is not subject to liability for defamation if the statement is true.

To create liability for defamation, there must be publication of matter that is both defamatory and false. There can be no recovery in defamation for a statement of fact that is true, although the statement is made for no good purpose, is inspired by ill will toward the person about whom it is published, and is made solely for the purpose of harming him. The truth of the matter published is an absolute defense. A sufficient defense is made out where the evidence establishes the statement is substantially true.

A defamatory communication is presumed to be false under the common law. The plaintiff does not have the burden of proving falsity. However, truth can be asserted as an affirmative defense, the burden of which is on the defendant.

ALTERNATE CHARGE WHERE SPEECH INVOLVED IS OF PUBLIC CONCERN: The United States Supreme Court's holding in Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. v. Hepps, 475 U.S. 767, 106 S.Ct. 1558, 89 L.Ed.2d 783 (1986)...