Defamation?

Hannaho

You will see from other posts that my solicitor is refusing to give me the Deeds of two of my properties even though I do not owe him money and there is no lien or undertaking relating to the property. I have been trying to get my Deeds for over a year through my new solicitor and through the Law Society but to no avail.

In an email to my solicitor after 10 letters from my new solicitor requesting the Deeds, I informed him by email that I was sending the matter to the Law Society, and that as it had taken a year and I still hadn't got my Deeds, I wondered if he had done something underhand with my Deeds. I didn't send this email to anyone else, but now he is threatening to sue me for defamation and retain my Deeds to offset costs - can he do this - the Law Society just seems to be writing back and forth - giving me his letters to read, and then sending him mine.

If there are any legal experts out there, I would welcome a reply.

seb65

If you have a new solicitor, you need to ask him/her.

Defamation requires that the statement be published to one or more persons other than to whom the statement is about. Where does he allege that you made the statement to someone else besides him?

benway

With due regard to the charter and the need for you to discuss the matter with your new solicitor rather than listening to the likes of me, it sounds a lot like bluster.

Hannaho wrote: »

I wondered if he had done something underhand with my Deeds. I didn't send this email to anyone else, but now he is threatening to sue me for defamation and retain my Deeds to offset costs

Now, calling someone's professional reputation into question is a classic form of defamatory statement, but it seems questionable as to whether there's been a publication. Per section 6 of the Defamation Act, if you sent it directly to him at his own email address, and didn't reasonably expect that a third party - say, his/her secretary or a colleague checking mail during his absence - might read it, then there's no publication, ergo no actionable defamation.

(4) There shall be no publication for the purposes of the tort of defamation if the defamatory statement concerned is published to the person to whom it relates and to a person other than the person to whom it relates in circumstances where—

(a) it was not intended that the statement would be published to the second-mentioned person, and

(b) it was not reasonably foreseeable that publication of the statement to the first-mentioned person would result in its being published to the second-mentioned person.

Plus, even if you did send it to a central email that you'd have to reasonably assume would be read by people other than the solicitor, I can't imagine any solicitor in their right mind seriously pursuing defamation proceedings off the back of it and opening up the possibility that you'd raise a defence aiming to show that your statement was true or an honestly held opinion, leading to your complaint being aired in open court.

Hannaho wrote: »

retain my Deeds to offset costs

Can't see how there'd be any justification for that based on the information in the o.p.

Pat Mustard

Have you asked your new solicitor any of the questions that you posted on the Internet, OP?

Tom Young

The OP has nothing to do with defamation as identified by the subsequent posters. If you happen to owe the firm fees that might be a valid reason for withholding. You could apply to Court for surrender, that may not be pretty.

Your new solicitor will be able to advise you as we can't do legal advice here.

Rule of thumb, truth defeats defamation.