Re: Case Studies

In Message Fri, 11 Feb 1994 10:04:27 -0500,   Donald Berman <berman[_at_]ccs.neu.edu> writes:

>I take a clipping from the morning
>newspaper and ask for student comments. There was an article that
>described in graphic detail the alleged actions of a slum landlord.
>The landlord was reportedly unavailable for comment. I then used that
>article in my class as a basis for discussing certain problems relating
>to residential landlord tenant law. If those newspaper reports turned
>out to be false should I fear a libel action? At no time did I represent
>that the facts were true but neither did I include a disclaimer - I
>just proceeded to ask questions about the various remedies that might be
>available to tenants in such a situation, the economic reasons why such
>conditions may exist, appropriate judicial and legislative responses, etc.
>I also considered a range of questions focusing on legal defenses and
>other justications for the landlord's alleged behavior. In this situation
>the use is not "hyperbolic" in the way that term is normally used. Yet
>I still feel that I do not run the risk of being sued for libel. Is my
>feeling totally unjustified?

If you simply repeat a false statement purportedly describing actions of the landlord and such a statement is defamatory, you are liable for libel IF you acted with the requisite degree of fault. If you simply use the facts as reported, without refering to the landlord specifically in order to get discussion going, you haven't defamed that landlord. If there had been charges filed against the landlord and you report them, you are privileged (probably). There is little reason to use the name or specific identifier in your "hypothetical" when you make it clear that the story is a real one; similarly, there's nothing wrong generally in using identifiers when your context makes it clear that the story is not real, but hypothetical. Theproblem arises when you use defamatory matter in a "real" context; it is no less defamatory because you find an educational purpose for it. Of course, in most cases, the fault standard would protect you.

shalpern[_at_]magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu
Sheldon W. Halpern
Ohio State University College of Law
Phone (614) 291-7525 (voice); (614) 291-3554 (fax) Received on Sat Feb 12 1994 - 19:11:35 GMT