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Bulletin, Progressive, Record, Reporter Wednesday, July 20, 2011 9B
Defamation or how to tak.e 1,00.gal pot s.hots
LEGAL MUSINGS
STEVE BRENNEMAN
steve@schoolpathways.com
I have received numerous
comments over the years
about how nice it must be to
be able to write whatever pops
into my head and have a news-
paper willing to print it. If on-
ly it were that simple.
This stuff doesn't just spew
from my head like a backed up
septic tank. Behind every 10-
minute piece is hours of seri-
ous research and sober reflec-
tion about how current events
in the legal world might im-
pact those who inhabit the re-
al one.
For example, should I write
this week about the man in
Washington state Who burst
into another's apartment and
assaulted him with a dead
weasel? Who'd have thought
ADW, the crime of Assault
with a Deadly Weapon, might
in fact be Assault with a Dead
Weasel? This may in fact be a
twofer crime, as it involves
both an assault on the victim
and defiling an animal corpse.
Wait until PETA gets a hold of
this one.
Or there's the case of the
Amish teenager in New York
who led police on a low-speed
chase in a horse and buggy be-
fore crashing into a ditch. Ap-
parently, the teenager, one
Levi DetweUer, ran a stop sign
and then refused to yield to
police who gave chase. After
Levi ran the horse and buggy
into a ditch, he fled the scene
on foot. The police found alco-
hol in the buggy.
I had to give this one a lot of
thought but eventually con-
cluded driving a buggy under
the influence of alcohol proba-
bly has little relevance to
Plumas County.
But speaking of DUI, how
about the case of the Ohio
man charged with driving a
motorized barstool while in-
toxicated? Now I could see this
in Plumas County. What a
concept: You drive a barstool
into a bar and then drive it
home, thereby never having to
get off your seat. The only
thing that could make this bet-
ter would be a Porta-Potty at-
tached to the back.
But this just seems like a
cheap way to get some laughs.
And, contrary to what some
might think, I do have stan-
dards.
So let's get down to busi-
ness. On the heels of sex scan-
dals involving former Con-
gressman Anthony Weiner
and Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
and the ridiculous sideshow
that was the Casey Anthony
trial, let's consider the tort of
defamation, of which I get a
lot of questions.
If I write here that former
Congressman Weiner was a
putz for sending digital pic-
tures of his naked body to
relative strangers, can he sue
me for libel? (Libel is the writ-
ten version of defamation;
slander is the spoken version.)
As a general matter, the
critical issue is whether the
statement made is one of fact
or opinion.
If you write a letter to the
editor suggesting Brenneman
is to writing what Weiner is to
bodybuilding, I might take of-
fense, but you haven't com-
mitted defamation.
Last week a 69-year-old cou-
ple was run over by their own
car. It appears the husband ac-
cidentally (?) backed over his
wife and, when he got out to
investigate, forgot to set the
parking brake and the car
rolled back over him as well.
Now I might make some
knee-jerk comment about how
elderly people are bad drivers.
That clearly would not be
defamation. What is "bad" to
one person may not be "bad"
to another, especially if the
other happens to be, say, 95
years old.
Vets office helps ,navigate benefits
VET TR.ax
MIKE McLEOD
Division Director, Veterans Services
I was at a small gathering
the other day, speaking about
Veterans Affairs and the of-
rice, when I was asked what
my office really does. I
thought it might be good to
publish a list of some of the ac-
tivities the Plumas County
Veterans Service Office per-
forms.
The office is accredited
through Department of .Veter-
ans Affairs, California Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs and
the Veterans of Foreign Wars
of the United States. What this
really means is':flat the office
has knowledge and working
connections to act as advo-
cates for veterans and their
dependents.
The office offers assistance
with claims and applications
for federal, state, county and
other applicable benefits.
The office acts as a liaison
for veterans and their depen-
dents.
On Tuesdays and Thurs-
days, in cooperation with the
VA Medical Center in Reno,
transportation to medical hp.
pointments is available. For
more information, contact the
coordinator of these services,
Pat Cormier, at 283-0461.
The office tries to maintain
an accurate record of each vet-
eran's supplied information,
documents and pertinent
records and manages their
cases as needed. These docu-
ments are maintained in a
locked, secure area.
Especially now during these
uncertain times, many contact
the office regarding medical
and health beffefits. Other
subjects include the definition
of a veteran or qualified de-
pendent, eligibility, compen-
sation, pension, education,
death and burial, home loans,
vocational rehabilitation,
employment, home loans, col-
lege fee waivers and tuition,
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business loan programs and
military records retrieval.
The office is actively engaged
in outreach, resource building,
service coordination and leg-
islative efforts -- all to improve
continuity in the community
and to seek better services and
benefits for those who served,
are serving, or will serve and
their dependents.
Those who have questions
or need more information may
call the office at 283-6275 or
stop by at 270 County Hospital
Road, Suite 206 in Quincy.
Information is also avail-
able at plumascounty.us or on
Facebook. "Like" the page and
keep abreast of posted topics
and mews items.We look for-
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But what if I write, "Old
people are bad drivers. For ex-
ample,, the other day I san 85-
year-old Joe Smith weave all
over the road, run a red light
and crash into a tree." IfI just
made up the latter part to sup-
port my theory, Mr. Smith
might have a claim against me
for libel.
On the other hand, if I had
just said I saw Mr. Smith dri-
ving "recklessly," that's an
opinion. Again, what is reck-
less to one person may not be
reckless to another. (But, then
again, if Mr. Smith can prove
he doesn't own a car and nev-
er drives, my opinion would
be based on a false fact.)
Assuming we are dealing
with a statement of fact, the
next issue is whether the
statement is true. In a pending
lawsuit, an Illinois hotel is su-
ing a couPle who blogged
about finding bedbugs in their
room during a recent stay.
This is a statement of fact,
so the issue becomes whether
it is true. In this regard, the
law in this country, unlike
that in England, is that the
party claiming defamation
must prove it. In other words,
the target of the statement
must prove it was false, which
is often hard to do.
For example, what if your
neighbor tells other neighbors
that you once smoked dope?
How do you prove that is not
true? Your own testimony to
that effect may not be enough
to convince a jury. So do you
bring in everyone you've ever
known to testify that they nev-
er saw you smoke dope? Even
then, you could have done so
in private.
In the case of public figures
like Congressman Weiner, an-
other requirement for a
defamation claim is that the
target prove the alleged de-
famer knew or reasonably
should have known the state-
ment was false. This is why
we often hear so many scur-
rilous and unfounded claims
against politicians and
celebrities who are then virtu-
ally powerless to do anything
about it except try to prove
their innocence.
' The final requirement of a
defamation claim is injury.
Normally, it is not enough
that someone defamed you.
You must also prove such
defamation caused injury. For
example, if someone makes a
baseless claim that you killed
many people, burned their
bodies and spread their ashes
in your backyard, chances are
the value of your home will be
reduced significantly. But if
your neighbor says you
smoked dope, chances are no-
body will care.
There is an exception to this
injury requirement where the
defamation relates to a per-
son's business or profession, in
which case injury is presumed.
As for calling former Con-
gressman Wiener a putz, this
gives rise to the trifecta de-
fense. It is obviously an opin-
ion. But even if considered a
statement of fact, it is also
true. I doubt Wiener himself
would disagree. But even if
considered a false statement of
fact, how is former Congress-
man Wiener harmed? Nobody
reads my stuff anyway.
Mark Smith
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