A federal appellate panel has overruled the long-standing principal that truth is an absolute defense in libel cases.

In the second rerun incident, a three-judge panel in the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently upended a long-held rule of law that “truth is an absolute defense” when someone is sued for libel. The opinion has surprised some experts on libel — and, if ultimately upheld, would uproot basic legal tenets of free speech and the law.

The judges reviewed Noonan v. Staples, a case involving an employee of a business-supply firm who sued the company after an executive sent an e-mail to about 1,500 employees detailing why the employee had been fired for what the company said was falsifying expense reports.

The court’s opinion said that even if the factual account sent to other workers were true, and apparently it was, the employee involved might be able to recover damages if the e-mail was sent maliciously — in this case, to humiliate the former employee. The judges sent the case back to a lower court in Massachusetts for reconsideration.

In other words, the mere fact that you have spoken truthfully will no longer be let your words be protected by the First Amendment -- a judge will be permitted to decide if you had sufficiently good cause to speak the truth, or whether your motives for doing so were base enough to strip you of your rights under the Constitution.

Just imagine what mischief could be made if this ruling is allowed to stand. Truthful statements would become actionable – presumably even those directed against public figures and public officials. Could you imagine, just as an example, what Bill Clinton could have done with such a precedent during the Lewinsky scandal? He’d have managed to close down most of the conservative media – after all, there was certainly a lot of malice involved in the way in which the story was handled, even though the details of the case were certainly true. Do we really want the free flow of truthful information to stifled by the threat of a libel suit?

Posted by: Greg at 10:41 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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