Document Type
Peach Sheet
Abstract
One person may sue another for libelous statements made in visual or sound media. Section 1 of the Act permits a defendant to plead and prove certain facts which will prevent the plaintiff from recovering punitive damages and also will mitigate actual damages. These facts include: the defendant acted without malice; the plaintiff did not request a retraction; or the defendant published a retraction in a manner as conspicuous as that of the defamatory statement. Section 2 of the Act defines the tort of abusive litigation. A plaintiff may sue in tort if a defendant, with malice, levied a claim against him which was frivolous, groundless in law or fact, or vexatious. The Act permits several complete defenses to the tort, including: that the original plaintiff pursued the suit in good faith; that the plaintiff voluntarily dismissed the suit; or that the defendant in the abusive litigation suit was substantially successful in the underlying suit that formed the basis of the claim for abusive litigation.
Recommended Citation
A. Chapar,
TORTS Torts: Defamation and Abusive Litigation,
6
Ga. St. U. L. Rev.
(1989).
Available at:
https://readingroom.law.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol6/iss1/4