What Are Your Legal Options If Someone Lies About You?
October 6, 2016 by Staff
Filed under Money/Business, Weekly Columns
(Akiit.com) It is the kind of situation that any of us could find ourselves in. Unfortunately, it is fairly common for people to experience this kind of problem. The amount of court cases proceeding from such instances is increasing year after year. If you are in the situation where you know someone has lied about you, you might be wondering what to do. It helps, first of all, to know what your options are – and that is what we will be going through here. Suing for defamation of character is a serious thing, and you need to be sure of it before you take action. If you are certain, however, that you are the victim of this kind of crime, then you can sue. Let’s take a look at some of the things that you need to know for this.
What Do You Need To Prove?
Suing for defamation of character can be a surprisingly long and difficult process. This is partly because it can be difficult to actually prove that the statement was said. If it has been written, that makes the case a lot easier in most cases. However, if it was said, then it can be difficult to prove. It would be helpful in such a circumstance to have had many witnesses, or a recording. Of course, such perfect 
conditions are rare to come by. Ultimately, there are two things that you need to prove to successfully sue for defamation of character. First of all, you need to prove that whatever was said about you is not true. Finding the evidence for this will depend on what it was that was actually said. Second, you also have to prove that the other person said it with the specific intent to cause you harm. This second part is often much more difficult to prove than the first, for obvious reasons.
The Two Types Of Case
In fact, you can sue for two different types of defamation of character. These are known as slander on the one hand, and libel on the other. If someone verbally says a false statement about you, this is known as slander. Libel, on the other hand, is when that statement is written down instead of spoken.
Legal Help & Advice
If you do decide to sue someone, it is highly unlikely that you will want to do it alone. Chances are, you will benefit from some decent legal help. There are a few different types of legal help which you might want to consider using. First of all, it is a good idea to use the Internet to carry out some research. You never know what you might discover that could help you along the way. Of course, apart from that you should also look into getting legal help in the courtroom itself. If you are suing someone else, it is much more likely to be effective if you have an experienced attorney with you. It would be fair to say that this is even an essential part of the entire process.
Staff Writer; Sherry Smith