clarity on defamation

hickory99

Hi,
Not sure if this is classed as looking for legal advice or not.
Its just a hypothetical question that i cant seem to answer with research.
My question is if person A states their own name on a live radio show and lies about person B damaging their reputation badly, can that recording be used against person A if they havent actually said person B's name but do say there own and there's absolutely no doubting that they are talking about person B?
say for example its a husband and ex wife so there is no way them saying they were talking about someone else other than person B.
I really hope this doesnt need to be closed cos I'm just wondering if a name needs to be stated, nothing further

goat2

hickory99 wrote: »

Hi,
Not sure if this is classed as looking for legal advice or not. I'm not looking to be advised as to what to do or how to go about it.
My question is if person A states their own name on a live radio show and lies about person B damaging their reputation badly, can that recording be used against person A if they havent actually said person B's name but did say there own and there's absolutely no doubting that they are talking about person B?
Its a husband and ex wife so there is no way them saying they were talking about someone else other than person B.
I really hope this doesnt need to be closed cos I'm just wondering if a name needs to be stated, nothing further

once they did not state the name of person B there is no case, as far as i know

hickory99

thanks I couldnt find any information on those type of situations. I'm was just trying to find out if say for example the wife is person A and they go on a radio station and slate person B as being a bad father or something alone those lines, has person B (being the husband in this scenario) any rights when person A has stated her name.

PCPhoto

my understanding of that situation would be that - a person can be defamed IF he/she is well known in their own circle and the other person spreads the rumours as fact....so if they were in the same "social circle" he could be defamed by association.

if that doesnt make sense - basically i think that person "A" can defame person "B" if there is enough information given to identify person "B" .... if they are both in the same "social circle" then others in the circle will know and he will be defamed and treated differently by his peers.

just my 1¢

hickory99

Thanks, its very hard to get answers to certain questions particularly in defamtion and slander

pirelli

goat2 wrote: »

once they did not state the name of person B there is no case, as far as i know

It doesn't require a name, the test would be if it is reasonable that people would know whom the person committing the libel was refering. The libel was clearing refering to someone. If a reasonably minded person can put two and two together than its actionable providing it's defamatory.

hickory99

thats what i thought myself but couldnt find anything on it. thats great guys thank you. When listening to radio talk shows its crazy what people say about one another and I've always wondered how its let go by the other party

Tom Young

Libel and Slander are now terms Defamation in Ireland. The Torts were merged in the 2009 Act.

I've spent ages discussing this here and on other threads. Use the search function.