Legal Question in Civil Litigation in New Jersey
Do we have a case for slander/defamation?
My husband is a mechanic and had 2 police officers come to his job last week. They told him a customer found a syringe and blood on their seats when they picked their car up. They(the customer and police) accused him of shooting up heroin and say it was him because he worked on the car. They searched him and questioned him relentlessly. (All while at his job!) When he kept denying their accusations they told him they will now have to do things ''the hard way''. They also looked at his arm and saw a bruise--nowhere near a vein by the way--and said ''you look like you've been booting up right here''. He was told there will be a DNA test done and his job is also threatening to drug test him.
My husband is not a drug user and his DNA and drug test will come up clean. When all this finally comes out, what leagal recourse do we have? This incident is damaging to his reputation at work and it angers me he basically has to PROVE his innocence. Is there anything we can do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Do we have a case for slander/defamation?
To answer your question accurately, I would have to know exactly what statements were communicated by the police to other people and the circumstances under which they were made. Anything said only to your husband does not constitute defamation; the statements must have been communicated to third parties. Of course that could happen if the statement were made in a manner so as to make it likely that another person would overhear it.
There are exceptions to the tort of defamation for government officials who are acting within the scope of their office. This does not mean that a public official, such as a police officer, can make false statements with impunity, but rather that the law does permit officials an amount of latitude when acting reasonably in the performance of their duties. Additionally, a statement of opinion is not defamation. The police are usually pretty good about knowing their boundaries.
The threshold question is: Did the police make a statement to a third party or obviously within the hearing of a third party to the effect that your husband was, in fact, engaging in criminal conduct?
A report to your husband�s employer that the police are investigating a crime in which the employer has an interest is not defamatory. A request by the police to interview your husband in connection with that crime is not defamatory. A statement by the police that your husband is a suspect is not defamatory unless, perhaps, if it is totally without foundation. A statement by the police that your husband, in fact, committed a crime may be defamatory if it is false and if it does not fit within the many exceptions to the law of defamation. The suspicions or conclusions drawn by your husband�s employer, even if wrong, do not make an otherwise permissible statement defamatory.
To say that the law of defamation is technical is an understatement. In the reference that I use, a simple list of the elements of defamation and its exceptions takes four pages. If you can get by the threshold question above, you may have a good cause of action against the police, but the only way to know for sure is to discuss the specific facts and circumstances with a qualified attorney.
After the test results are in and you have positive evidence that your husband is not implicated, you should arrange to discuss the matter with an attorney. If I can be of help to you, please call me at the number below.
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