Defamation of character what to do?

omck80

Hi, hopefully someone can help me here or tell me if I am being silly.
On the August bank holiday weekend I was in my local bar with some friends. One of my friends was in smoking area when a fight broke out and received a blow to the face for no reason whatsoever apart from being in wrong place at the wrong time. He didn't retort and things broke up very quickly. However the guy who started the fight accused me of starting the argument when I wasn't even in that part of the pub. Owner of pub asked me to leave which I did. The following day he watched CCTV footage and seen that I was in a different part of bar and had no involvement in the incident at all.
He has since apologised to my friends and I and admitted he was in the wrong.
I have kept my distance from the premises since until last night.
I arrived in and barman working was hesitant to serve me a drink and told me that I wasn't to start trouble again.
To say I am annoyed is an understatement as I have never been involved in any violent altercation in my life. After I explained to him the owner had apologised to me he gave me the drink. I actually should of left.
My problem is that other customers heard what he said and were asking me what fight had I caused.
Do I have any sort of a case here?
Thanks in advance.

Roquentin

a guy in college called me an idiot once.....im not going to sue him over it......

tbh you will get a worse reputation if you sue them over your "character".....either way you lose

omck80

Roquentin wrote: »

a guy in college called me an idiot once.....im not going to sue him over it......

tbh you will get a worse reputation if you sue them over your "character".....either way you lose

Lol I don't want to sue but would like an apology. I haven't done anything wrong and was accused of all sorts when CCTV proved otherwise.

omck80

Roquentin wrote: »

a guy in college called me an idiot once.....im not going to sue him over it......

tbh you will get a worse reputation if you sue them over your "character".....either way you lose

Lol I don't want to sue but would like an apology. I haven't done anything wrong and was accused of all sorts when CCTV proved otherwise.

Pro Hoc Vice

omck80 wrote: »

Lol I don't want to sue but would like an apology. I haven't done anything wrong and was accused of all sorts when CCTV proved otherwise.

From the OP "He has since apologised to my friends and I and admitted he was in the wrong."

Roquentin

omck80 wrote: »

Lol I don't want to sue but would like an apology. I haven't done anything wrong and was accused of all sorts when CCTV proved otherwise.

my bad but in fairness when you use words like: defamation, fight, cctv and case, all in the one paragraph it looks like you are going legal.

i wouldnt worry about.....people have opinions regardless

MarkAnthony

You have every right to 'go legal' if so contact a legal advisor.

I'd go 'upfront' in this case and speak to the owner, accept another free drink and a point in the direction of a likely lass and leave it at that.

Your decision and there is not really a legal discussion to be had here; beyond the quasi-high horse bleetings of 'move on' 'ah sure it'll be grand' 'compo culture' thanks harvesting.

Larry Wildman

It sounds like you've received two apologies already, one from the owner and one from the barman who mistook you for a troublemaker.

Cop on and move on.

James esq

This was an unpleasant event for you and you are free to take the course of action that you suggested. Remember you need money to take a defamation case, this is not worth bothering about, you will just annoy the judge for wasting time, lose and pay all the costs, and get a rep for suing folk. There are plenty of other bars, move on.

cerastes

TBH Im with the OP on this one,
Ive never sued anyone or been in a court case in my life, and as much as possible Id like to continue to avoid that.

The thing is, an apology in private or not in front of anyone who may have overheard at the time, isn't really effective at clearing someones name.
I had an instance where a person who had wrongfully reported information about me that was not correct, later came to me and apologised privately, I felt I had to accept the apology, and did so for other reasons too, but really anyone doing that is getting off the hook without undoing a false statement made in front of others.

There have been a few circumstances where I've considered that false statements about me amount to defamation, its simply not worth in many cases to fight these things, I think the burden of proof would be on the accused?
I find it strange that someone suggests that a judge would consider this a waste of time when defamation is in Irish law, is it then just for rich people that can afford it?

If someone makes a false statement about you publicly, and has no concerns about who they tell or who may overhear that, I dont see how there are degrees of defamation, it either is or isn't.

Peregrinus

The thing is, any formal action about this will simply bring the original mistaken assertion, that the OP was involved in a brawl, to a wider and wider circle of people. Some of whom will think "there's no smoke without fire".

The publican and the barman have, apparently, both apologised to the OP, and now welcome him into the premises. Anyone who heard the original allegation - i.e. someone on the premises - may have heard the apology, and can plainly see that the OP is a welcome customer. I don't see that there is anything more than the OP can look for that will improve the situation, or his personal standing; if anything any further action he takes is likely to make things worse.

I appreciate that the OP's feelings are hurt, but an action in defamation was never intended to compensate anyone for hurt feelings, and you get no damages for that.

If the OP feels that this incident has damaged his relationship with the publican and/or the barman and their apologies have not repaired it, he may no longer enjoy patronising that particular house. He can take his custom elsewhere. It's not as though there is a shortage of licensed premises.

J Mysterio

You should have got a free drink at the very least. If you didnt, or if youre not happy with the reparations, dont give them your business.

cerastes

Peregrinus wrote: »

The thing is, any formal action about this will simply bring the original mistaken assertion, that the OP was involved in a brawl, to a wider and wider circle of people. Some of whom will think "there's no smoke without fire".

The publican and the barman have, apparently, both apologised to the OP, and now welcome him into the premises. Anyone who heard the original allegation - i.e. someone on the premises - may have heard the apology, and can plainly see that the OP is a welcome customer. I don't see that there is anything more than the OP can look for that will improve the situation, or his personal standing; if anything any further action he takes is likely to make things worse.

I appreciate that the OP's feelings are hurt, but an action in defamation was never intended to compensate anyone for hurt feelings, and you get no damages for that.

If the OP feels that this incident has damaged his relationship with the publican and/or the barman and their apologies have not repaired it, he may no longer enjoy patronising that particular house. He can take his custom elsewhere. It's not as though there is a shortage of licensed premises.

If the apology was made publicly and not intended to be discreet (while not announcing it) may be all the OP can hope for.
On the other hand, depending where the OP is, there may not be a lot of pubs, avoiding it might appear as if you have been barred, personally if I was going out for a drink Id give it the least of my business but still go.
Id also have no qualms about saying I was falsely accused and later apologised to. Can the OP request the CCTV records be kept, not for his viewing but as proof of his innocence. Id still prefer an apology in writing/email.

Peregrinus

Worth pointing out that the original defamatory statement did not come from the publican or the barman; it came from the guy who started the fight. If the OP did take any action against the publican, the publican would undoubtedly point out that he had a responsibility to keep an orderly house; that the OP had been accused of causing trouble; that he needed to take that accusation seriously; and that he was justified in asking the OP to leave. He'd add that it's quite common, if there is trouble in a bar, to ask the person who is the subject of the trouble to leave, even if they have not started the trouble, since this is often an effective way of defusing a situation, and this is the priority, rather than assigning blame or vindicating anybody's reputation.

I think a jury would be sympathetic, and they'd wonder if maybe the OP wasn't suing the publican, rather than person who originally slandered him, because the publican had deeper pockets.

obplayer

omck80 wrote: »

Hi, hopefully someone can help me here or tell me if I am being silly.
On the August bank holiday weekend I was in my local bar with some friends. One of my friends was in smoking area when a fight broke out and received a blow to the face for no reason whatsoever apart from being in wrong place at the wrong time. He didn't retort and things broke up very quickly. However the guy who started the fight accused me of starting the argument when I wasn't even in that part of the pub. Owner of pub asked me to leave which I did. The following day he watched CCTV footage and seen that I was in a different part of bar and had no involvement in the incident at all.
He has since apologised to my friends and I and admitted he was in the wrong.
I have kept my distance from the premises since until last night.
I arrived in and barman working was hesitant to serve me a drink and told me that I wasn't to start trouble again.
To say I am annoyed is an understatement as I have never been involved in any violent altercation in my life. After I explained to him the owner had apologised to me he gave me the drink. I actually should of left.
My problem is that other customers heard what he said and were asking me what fight had I caused.
Do I have any sort of a case here?
Thanks in advance.

For fukcs sake grow up. No harm was done, the staff are serving you, what more do you want? Trust me on this; "No one else cares".

Larry Wildman

J Mysterio wrote: »

You should have got a free drink at the very least. If you didnt, or if youre not happy with the reparations, dont give them your business.

He got a free drink...

hullaballoo

Larry Wildman wrote: »

It sounds like you've received two apologies already, one from the owner and one from the barman who mistook you for a troublemaker.

Cop on and move on.

obplayer wrote: »

For fukcs sake grow up. No harm was done, the staff are serving you, what more do you want? Trust me on this; "No one else cares".

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