Jury finds for Libel defendant in case over truth as defense Noonan V. Staples

Massachusetts Jury confirmed that a truthful email condemning a employee of StaplerInc.,an office supply company could be libelous. In the case Noonan vs Staples an employee filed a libel suit against his employer.Staple sent an email throught the company mentioning Noonan's name and that he had been fired. According to the Company's email Noonan had been fired because he had not followed the Company's rules on expanses. He claimed the Company is purposely ruining his name. The Court of Appeals for the First Circuit refused to dismiss the case eventhough the information in the email was true. The Supreme Court of the United State decided in New York v. Sullivian thet truth is defence to libel. In this Noonan case state of Massachusetts was used.Under the law even if a statement is true,it can be libelous if it was made with actual malice.Actual malice here means , intent to hurt someone or ill well.So in Noonan Vs Staples, the court of appeals remanded the case back to district court in Massachusetts because a Jury could find that the email had been sent with actual Malice. In the end, however Noonan lost the case because he failed to proove to the Jury that the email was intentionally sent to harm him.

Link: http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?=11059