Law-Forums.org

[elkanah1]

I was accussed of this on new years eve,which I did not do,and now the friend of my sister is going around and telling everyone that i did this, The embbarassment of people even talking about it and the defending of myself is taking its toll,Im 41 ,I dont need the added stress,What can I do about this situation?

[michelangelo]

There isn't much you can do. You almost certainly do not have a cause of action for defamation.

To have a successful basis for a defamation suit, the person must be saying or writing a lie about you and they MUST KNOW IT IS A LIE. (And you have to prove they knew it was a lie.) Here, your sister's friend will be able to argue she has a good faith basis to believe you are a thief. That ends any hope you have of a lawsuit.

Even if you could prove she was intentionally lying about you to try to ruin your reputation you would still have to prove damages. Being embarrassed and stressed, and having to defend yourself isn't really what the statute was designed to deal with. It is more about losing your job or losing business. (So, if you were a housekeeper and the accusation that you were a thief caused your clients to fire you, you would have damages.)

[aenedleah10]

If this is interfering with your life, your career..your character..confront her to stop talking..maybe talking to a lawyer would help