Defamation
We represent both those who have been defamed and those accused of it, in disputes over reputation, business standing, and the published or spoken word, whether a private falsehood or a statement that has traveled across the internet.
A defamation claim is often tested early and rigorously, and not every genuine injury will clear those hurdles. We weigh that test in the claims we bring, and raise it in the ones we defend.
We bring claims of libel and slander, trade libel and business disparagement, and the online and social-media statements that increasingly give rise to them; and we defend against the same. On the defense side, that work frequently begins with a motion to strike under California's anti-SLAPP statute. On the plaintiff's side, it begins with the same question viewed from the opposite direction: whether a claim can withstand one.
Because California protects speech robustly, the threshold issue in most of these matters is not whether something was hurtful but whether it is actionable, and that is the question to weigh before any other. Whether the aim is a retraction, an early dismissal, or a judgment, the work starts with that assessment.
Scope
Scope
Libel and slander; trade libel and business disparagement; online and social-media defamation; defamation per se; anti-SLAPP motions; and pre-litigation demands and retractions.
