Tremblay & Smith, LLP, lawyers in Charlottesville, VA, Virginia

No Strict Liability for Defamation

A lawsuit for defamation has the following basic elements: (1) making a false statement (2) about a person (3) to others, and (4) actual damages (if the harm to the person is not apparent). There is a fifth element when the person is a public official or public figure. The person who made the statement has to have made it with a known or reckless disregard of the truth. This article discusses a matter related to the fifth element, the prohibition against strict liability.More...

Tort Law - Generally

Apart from legislation granting a right to sue for a specific harm, personal injury law generally consists of tort law and the civil procedure for enforcing it. This article discusses the words used to describe those who commit torts and how tort law is a particular collection of accepted legal theories for suing people for money.More...

The Basic Law of Fraud

As a general rule, it is not illegal to say something that is not true. The general rule probably evolved from the fact that, in addition to engaging in intentional deception, human beings can simply be mistaken. It is also true that some false statements do not deceive because they come from sources known to be unreliable. If we do not rely on the mistaken statements of others, they do us no harm.More...

Federal Tort Claims Act -- Scope of Employment

The Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) applies to claims for personal injury caused by the negligence of a federal government employee who is acting within the scope of his or her employment, under circumstances where a private person would be liable under state law. Therefore, in order for the FTCA to apply, the employee's negligence must occur within the scope of his or her employment. Generally, a federal government employee is acting within the scope of his or her employment if the employee is engaged in an authorized activity that serves a governmental purpose.More...

Examples of Non-Defamatory Opinion

Defamation lawsuits are not easy to win because the plaintiff must both prove the difficult elements of his or her case and avoid the many defenses to defamation. This article discusses two examples of one of the standard defenses to defamation: opinion.More...