lawyerdood Wrote:
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> in all seriousness her boyfriend actually CAN sue
> for libel not sure about her or anyone suing her
> though but he can
Virginia makes no distinction between libel and slander; it all falls under the umbrella definition of "defamation".
If he was specifically named as being a drug dealer, since dealing drugs is a felony in the Commonwealth, saying that he is a drug dealer when he's not constitutes defamation
per se.
From the article Virginia Defamation Law at the Citizen Media Law Project:
Virginia recognizes that certain statements constitute defamation per se. These statements are so egregious that they will always be considered defamatory and are assumed to harm the plaintiff's reputation, without further need to prove that harm. In Virginia, a statement that does any of the following things amounts to defamation per se:- attributes to the plaintiff the commission of some criminal offense involving moral turpitude, for which the party, if the charge is true, may be indicted and punished;
- indicates that the plaintiff is infected with a contagious disease;
- attributes to the plaintiff unfitness to perform the duties of an office or employment of profit, or lack of integrity in the discharge of the duties of such an office or employment; or
- hurts the plaintiff in his or her profession or trade.
That being said, there is absolutely no way that a lawyer will take this case on a contingency basis, because there is
zero chance for any sort of meaningful recovery, even if a judgement is entered against the defamer.
So, unless he's got a few tens of thousands of dollars lying around that he's willing to burn through in attorney's fees, court costs, and lots of expensive computer forensics work, he has no legal recourse.
http://www.citmedialaw.org/legal-guide/virginia-defamation-law