Recently in Defamation (Libel / Slander) Category

Tarsha Jones of Power 99's Jonesy in the Morning show called out Tracey Parson for beating up some teenage girls. As a result, Parson was soon receiving death threats and her Kiddie Kare business was quickly losing customers.

But Parson had nothing to do with a fight involving teen girls and she says that Jones never bothered to fact-check, Parson claims in her Jonsey lawsuit.

Mike McQueary, the graduate assistant who says that he saw Jerry Sandusky rape a boy in the Penn State showers in 2002, was roundly criticized by the media for not taking enough action to stop the abuse. However, McQueary is now basically saying that the reports are wrong, and that he did in fact stop the abuse.

Based on all the prior news reports, can we now expect a Mike McQueary defamation lawsuit against all those news outlets?

C-list celebrity boxing promoter Damon Feldman has filed a lawsuit bringing defamation charges against John McNesby over comments McNesby made on a Fox 29 television interview.

According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Feldman was promoting a boxing event last year featuring "celebrities" like Lindsay Lohan's dad, Michael Lohan. Feldman initially promoted the event as honoring fallen Philadelphia police officer John Pawlowski, who was killed in the line of duty in 2009.

Jenna Addis has asked a judge to dismiss a defamation lawsuit brought against her by former Lower Merion High School physics teacher Robert Schanne. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Addis is claiming that her alleged defamatory statements were made in a “quasi-judicial” setting and are exempt from defamation claims.

Last December, Jenna Addis told Lower Merion school officials that as a student at the school she had a relationship with teacher Robert Schanne. Addis claimed that the relationship began during her senior year in 2003 and morphed from flirting to hugging to kissing to oral sex by the end of that year reports the Inquirer. As a result, the Lower Merion school board fired Schanne.

Former Lower Merion physics teacher Robert Schanne, 43, has filed a lawsuit against 26-year-old Jenna Addis, a former student whom he's accused of slander and libel in federal court. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, Schanne was terminated in January for allegedly having an inappropriate relationship with Addis years ago while she was still a student.

Addis contended in December that she started "dating" Schanne when she was 18-years-old and a senior in high school. Although Schanne did not deny having "an occasional intimate relationship" with Addis, the former teacher asserted that his relationship with her had actually started in 2004, "well after" she had graduated.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported U.S. District Judge Ronald L. Buckwalter dismissed the defamation claim of former Philadelphia Housing Authority executive director Carl R. Greene, who accused PHA Chairman and former Mayor John F. Street of offending him.

Street had talked about Greene to the media and PHA board, describing him as a “serial sexual harasser” after several women began complaining that Greene had sexually harassed them at work. But Judge Buckwalter decided to reject Greene’s allegations of having been defamed and ruled that Street was a “high public official” who had immunity as PHA’s chairman.

Former Philadelphia Housing Authority executive Carl Greene filed a lawsuit in Common Pleas Court on Tuesday, accusing PHA chairman John F. Street of defaming him. Carl Greene had previously sued the entire PHA board for wrongful termination, defamation, and breach of contract after he was fired in September. Yet for this particular defamation suit, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Greene only named John Street as the defendant.

The complaint seeks damages exceeding $50,000 for the alleged derogatory comments John Street made about Carl Greene during an interview on a 6ABC show in October. Street was originally on the show to talk about the comments he made regarding Mayor Nutter's performance in office. However, Street was also asked how he knew nothing about Carl Greene's conduct at PHA after sexual harassment allegations arose against Greene.

According to The Reporter, Colonial Marble & Granite in Upper Merion filed a defamation and false advertising lawsuit in the U.S. District Court against AAA Hellenic Marble Inc. from West Chester. The Upper Merion store claims AAA Hellenic posted fake customer reviews about Colonial Marble on consumer websites.

The lawsuit targets the West Chester company, AAA Hellenic employee Nicholas Alexiadas, and Nicholas' wife Jessica Alexiadas. The suit alleges the defendants engaged in a "fraudulent advertisement campaign" to damage Colonial, since both companies are business rivals in the stone fabrication and installation industry.

Even when it comes to posting informal comments on social networking websites or online message boards, it's important not to post false information -- especially information that can be considered defamatory. The country has seen an increase in internet defamation lawsuits, filed by those who claim that they were hurt, defamed, or threatened by what was written online.

The Los Angeles Times reports that a western Pennsylvania judge recently ruled that a community website must identify the Internet address of individuals who posted comments calling a particular township official a "jerk" who pocketed money from taxpayers. The official filed a defamation lawsuit against the people that posted the comments; once he learned of their identities, saying that the comments were false and damaged his reputation.

While the U.S. Constitution guarantees us the right to say and write what we please, there are also limitations on free speech. Defamation laws simply make it so that a person cannot publish false statements that are defamatory. Since defamation is simply a tort, a person will not face criminal charges for defamation, but can instead be sued through a civil action.

A Pennsylvania personal injury attorney can handle just about any defamation case. But FindLaw states that in order to prove defamation, the lawyer must show four criteria  -- proving that a statement was published, false, injurious, and unprivileged. All four of these elements are key.