Cartoon Analysis #26

Carlos Munoz
Roster #20
CARTOON
 What is going on?
• Billy is sitting, having a meeting with a lawyer.

• Billy is a student, hence the report card being presented to

the lawyer.

• Private person and not a public person/official

• Key Word- Defamation

 Key Words Defined
• Defamation Law- The area of law which seeks to protect a person’s reputation by preventing unfair speech
that might hurt a person’s reputation.

• Defamation- The act of damaging the good reputation of someone, libel or slander

• Libel- A published false statement that is damaging to a person’s reputation, written declaration

• Slander- The action or crime of making a false spoken statement damaging a persons reputation, verbal.

• Qualified Privilege (Conditional Privilege)- Protected. The person communicating the statement usually has
a legal, moral or social duty to make it and the recipient will have a corresponding interest in receiving it.

• Absolute Privilege- Absolute privilege is a complete defense. When absolute privilege applies to an
individual's speech, it is irrelevant as to whether the defamatory speech was false or what the speaker's
intent was, ex. Courts and testimonies
 Fact vs. Opinion
• Most opinions receive constitutional protection (Freedom of
Speech), particularly when public figures or officials are involved.
(In cases teachers have been considered both public and private figures)

• To qualify as opinion, the communication must not lend itself to

being realistically proven as true or false and must be
communicated in such a way as to be considered a personal
perspective on the matter.
 What Makes a Defamation Case?
Defamation laws and cases slightly vary from state to state… but must typically include:

• Statement- Verbal or written (libel or slander)

1. Published- means that a third party saw the statement, does not have to be in book to be
considered publish, just has to be public. Ex. Social media, newspapers, magazines, radio.

2. False- Must be false or otherwise it is not damaging, opinions are not damaging, ex. An
author reviews a book to be “The worst book I have read in my entire life.”

3. Injurious- Must show that their character/reputation was ruined, ex. Shunned by neighbors,
workers, family, or was harassed by the press.

4. Unprivileged- Was not allowed or not protected

 Court Case
• Draker v. Schreiber – Two 16-year old High School students, posted a false Myspace page about their assistant
principal Anna Draker in March 2006. The page was online for approximately one month before Draker realized
it. She contacted Myspace, and the social networking site took the page down. Draker sued the students and
their parents in Texas state court, alleging that the page contained defamatory text and pictures and falsely
depicted Draker as a lesbian, which she was not. Later, she amended her complaint to include a claim for
intentional infliction of emotional distress. The students argued that because the "exaggerated and derogatory
statements" included on the Myspace website were not assertions of fact that could be objectively verified
(opinions), they were not defamatory as a matter of law.  The court agreed and dismissed the defamation
claim against the students.

OPINION
In Nevada

YouTube Video

https://youtu.be/MRWD7_zzb4k
 Sources
• https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/civil-litigation/defamation-charac
ter.html

• https://legalcareerpath.com/what-is-defamation-law/

• https://www.alllaw.com/articles/nolo/civil-litigation/privilege-defense-
defamation.html

• http://www.dmlp.org/threats/draker-v-schreiber