When we think of personal injury lawsuits, car accidents, slip and falls, and dog bites may come to mind. In each of these cases, your skilled personal injury lawyer Bronx will argue to win compensation for you to cover your expenses such as medical bills, cost of therapy, transportation, property damage, and loss of wages or earning capacity.
Additionally, your injury lawyer may also argue for non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering and loss of consortium.
However, a personal injury extends far beyond a hospital bill and prescription cost. This is obvious to anyone who has suffered harm due to another party’s negligence or recklessness. But since other rightful compensation is awarded for a personal injury, including for damages beyond economic value, does that mean there are non-physical personal injuries?
Personal injuries that do not directly harm the body
A skilled New Jersey or New York personal injury attorney can represent anyone who has suffered at the hands of another party. That suffering is not limited to physical pain. For example, what about those who have been harmed through defamation of character, particularly slander and libel?
In New York, a defamatory statement is:
-
-
- A false statement
- Published to a third party without consent or authorization
- With fault, either intentional or negligent
- That caused harm to its subject
-
Slander
Any spoken, sung or oral lie or falsehood maliciously intended to harm another’s reputation is known as slander. These lies can be intentional or negligent. Different burdens of proof apply to private and public figures—a public figure is considered to be a person who puts themselves into the public eye to seek attention or discussion. In New York, that can include celebrities, candidates for public office, and even small business owners seeking branding opportunities and business reviews.
Libel
Libel is written falsehoods against a person, where those falsehoods are meant to damage a reputation. With how much content is published online on a daily basis, possibly libelous statements are around us all the time, and carry major potential to disparage its subject.
In 2018, Forbes Magazine told us that 2.5 quintillion bytes of data are published on a daily basis. That is an unfathomable amount of written words to conceive of, and any number of them could contain false statements about another person or entity, especially a public figure.
Building a defamation case
Parties have just one year from the date of the incident to file legal action against the offending party, and your injury attorney needs to build a strong case for compensation. These cases are fact-driven, where the facts are backed up by hard evidence. It can take a long time to find the documents and media files that show libel or slander, and to interview witnesses and research depositions and transcripts citing the events.
Valuing your reputation is a difficult task. Based on experience, a Bronx defamation attorney can work with you to find a fair monetary value for the damage you have endured based on what was said or written about you, and how badly it affected your livelihood.
Protect your reputation with a professional Bronx personal injury lawyer who gets results
Our name is all we have, and when someone says or publishes disparaging things about us, it can have long-reaching consequences that affect our daily life and ability to make a living. For more than 30 years, The Law Offices of Evan W. Kohn has fought for the rights of those in the Bronx and other boroughs, Long Island, Westchester and Rockland counties, and New Jersey.
When someone tries to ruin your reputation, fight back.
Call 718-409-5500 or contact us online right away.