Deck 5: Defamation

Question 1

Printed or written statements held to be untrue and cause harm to one's reputation are called ____ .

A) treason
B) slander
C) sedition
D) libel

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The landmark case of New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964) established a standard of fault for defamation claims filed by public officials in civil court known as ____.

A) negligence
B) strict liability
C) general malice
D) actual malice

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Holding up a person's reputation to ridicule, scorn or contempt to a respectable part of the community defines the tort of ___ .

A) defamation
B) infliction of emotional distress
C) actual humiliation
D) statutory embarrassment

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The required element in libel claims proving the defendant conveyed false and harmful information about the plaintiff's personal reputation to a third party is ___ .

A) identification
B) publication
C) defamation
D) injury
E) all of the above

Question 5

Historically, defamation was divided by law into print and spoken words, and so the latter is called __ .

A) libel
B) tongue lashing
C) slander
D) oral denunciation

Question 6

Which of the following would be considered an example of legal slander?

A) Gossip blog sharing online rumors alleging drunken behavior by the police chief
B) Church elder falsely accusing the pastor's wife of adultery at a Sunday school board meeting.
C) Radio station tweeting a false rumor about the governor smoking pot at a U2 concert
D) Newspaper article reports a politician cavorting with Russian prostitutes at a hotel.

Question 7

If police arrested a local politician for publishing on social media unfounded allegations of embezzlement against the sheriff, the offense charged most likely would be ___ .

A) intentional infliction of emotional distress
B) civil slander
C) criminal libel
D) statutory embarrassment

Question 8

In order to have a legally sufficient case for libel, a plaintiff must show injury to reputation. That standard might be difficult to meet for what reason below?

A) Calculating damage to reputation in lost hours of work or sleep
B) Impossible to show damaging information was understood by a third party
C) Identification requires negligence rather than strict liability
D) Reputation already tarnished beyond recovery

Question 9

In libel law, the requirement of identification means the defamation is of and concerning the ____ .

A) government
B) defendant
C) plaintiff
D) accused defamer
E) none of the above

Question 10

In libel law, the offensive communication must be shown to cause harm to the plaintiff's reputation in the mind of "right thinking persons," and it also must be shown to be ___ .

A) False
B) Substantively true
C) Personal opinion
D) Fair comment

Question 11

The distinction made between "libel per se" and "libel per quod" is shown by associating which allegations below to the former term?

A) criminal behavior
B) professional incompetence
C) immoral behavior
D) harboring a loathsome disease
E) all of the above

Question 12

The breach of a duty resulting in reasonably foreseeable harm is known in civil law as

A) libel
B) prior restraint
C) treason
D) negligence

Question 13

Which of the following items is the best example of a public official as defined by libel law?

A) Lifeguard at the city pool
B) High school teacher
C) Mayor of a small town
D) Hollywood celebrity

Question 14

Anyone voluntarily injecting his or herself into a particular public controversy and becoming prominent for a limited range of issues is identified by legal definition as a/n ___ .

A) all-purpose public figure
B) limited purpose public figure
C) temporary plaintiff
D) none of the above

Question 15

A rule used by some courts to separate defamatory statements from acceptable expressions is the ___.

A) innocent construction rule
B) fairness doctrine
C) context neutral principle
D) single bite of the apple rule

Question 16

In libel law, a defendant cannot be found liable for defamation if his/her statement is held to be ____ .

A) opinion
B) false
C) fallacious
D) slanderous

Question 17

The revolutionary principle of making truth a defense against libel charges came to light in ___ .

A) The Crown v. Zenger (1735)
B) Marbury v. Madison (1803)
C) Baltimore v. Barron (1833)
D) New York Times Co. v. Sullivan (1964)

Question 18

In defining the elements of libel, the dissemination of a defamatory statement to others is called ___ .

A) speech
B) publication
C) rumor
D) censorship

Question 19

In libel law, the fault element defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for truth is ____ .

A) malice
B) falsity
C) negligence
D) actual malice

Question 20

A pretrial decision by a judge to dismiss a libel case showing little chance for success is called ___ .

A) summary judgment
B) writ of certiorari
C) nolo contendere
D) prior restraining order

Question 21

In libel law, the defense contending a temporary or permanent condition allows for the communication of false and harmful information is called ___ .

A) fair comment
B) privilege
C) negligence
D) slander

Question 22

The defamation defense contending all sides of a story were impartially conveyed without harmful intent is called __ .

A) presumption of professionalism
B) court-ordered equity
C) fair and balanced defense
D) neutral reportage

Question 23

Monetary compensation designed to remedy calculable losses suffered by the plaintiff is called ___ .

A) perceived damages
B) actual damages
C) punitive damages
D) pain and suffering

Question 24

The court-ordered award not intended to make the plaintiff whole, but to act as a deterrent against this sort of offensive conduct by others is called ___ .

A) perceived damages
B) actual damages
C) punitive damages
D) pain and suffering

Question 25

The local newspaper runs a story stating most of the faculty members of Nunya Business Academy lack the degrees they claim to hold. No names are mentioned in the story, but the administration launches an investigation into faculty credentials. It is disclosed to a few higher ups Professor Sue Doughnym has falsified her records. She is fired, but sues the university newspaper and administration to restore her good name. The question is not whether she will win her defamation claim but how she was identified in the newspaper. If she files suit against the paper, The Daily Stultus, which reported the statistic she will win.

Question 26

Phil A. Dendron is a student in your class. One evening while sitting around in a local bar, students begin discussing their classes. Phil tells everyone, "The communication law class is the pits. I haven't learned a thing in there. I think [INSERT FACULTY MEMBER'S NAME HERE] is the worst teacher I've ever had. He only works a couple of hours each day, is never in his office, and I think he got his PhD from a mail order catalog." As much as Phil might upset the faculty member cited, he will easily win any defamation lawsuit against him because his remarks are protected statements of opinion.

Question 27

A major accident occurred on a local street just as Frieda Wander is walking by. There are serious injuries, but Wander kept walking. A videographer happened to be at the scene and captured the whole thing on tape. After the story airs on WOOP-TV, Hugh Bagawind goes to his social media and posts Wander was immoral to have walked by such a scene without stopping to help. Wander receives his post and files a defamation suit against Bagawind. Now the court must decide what fault she has to prove against him. In this case, she would be a public figure because of her location at an important news story.

Question 28

WONK reporter Bess Twishes uncovers some information that State Senator Rhoda Camel has been accepting bribes. Twishes has made two recordings of conversations with two different sources who accuse the Senator. Assume for a moment that the senator has NOT accepted bribes. The story is worded, "According to two different sources, she has accepted bribes." If Camel sues for libel, WONK and Twishes will be able to successfully defend themselves by showing that the report is true because two different sources did, in fact, make the accusations.

Question 29

Chanda Leer was a communication law student at your school years ago. She writes a novel (that means fiction) about college life. In it, she describes a professor that sounds a lot like the popular mentor, Dr. Sue Yoo, but Leer has the novel's character changing students' grades in exchange for bribes, which the novel claims are used to fund trips to Asia. Dr. Yoo has never accepted any bribes, so this information - if applied to her - is false. According to precedent, if Yoo sues Leer, the professor will lose because works clearly labeled as a fiction and never used the name, Sue Yoo.

Question 30

Paul E. Nomial was a much-loved politician who died suddenly. A nationally-televised retrospective on his life says many nice things about him but also wrongly accuses him of having embezzled government funds. His family is outraged and wants to file a libel suit. Realizing they are unlikely to win a libel suit on behalf of a dead person, his wife decides to file a libel suit in her own name claiming that her reputation has been damaged because of the libel to her deceased husband. Assuming that his wife can prove that Paul was defamed, she will be able to claim she too was damaged.

Question 31

Two students bump into each other in the student union cafeteria and spill their trays. Food goes everywhere, but senior Frank Lee Mydeer decides he needs to bump back harder. He hurls insults at shy, freshman Casper Milquetoast using every epithet he can conceive of for the accident. Since the younger guy is redheaded and overweight, Mydeer throws a few darts at those personal traits as well. A crowd gathers around to see how Milquetoast has been humiliated -- so much so he drops out of school the next month. Obviously he suffered injury, so Milquetoast should win his defamation suit against Mydeer.

Question 32

Jill Tidd has a messy break-up with her boyfriend. She decides to post all sorts of horrible things about him on social networking sites where they have mutual friends. Some of what she says are false statements of fact that would damage his reputation. Because Tidd has made the statements in an online public forum that is understood to be open, she would not be liable for libel.

Question 33

Local police officer Hugh Niform arrests Wally Ball for public intoxication. Hugh takes Wally downtown to the jail, writes up the arrest report and files it. A few hours later Wally's attorney arrives and is able to produce medical evidence showing Ball had a medical condition and it was a mistaken prescription that caused the intoxicating effect and that he was not drinking or taking any illegal drugs. The changes are dropped. The arrest report is still on record. If Ball chooses to, he could win a libel lawsuit against Officer Niform for falsely accusing him of being intoxicated.

Question 34

The local newspaper runs a story that John Smith earns a second income at night as a high-paid escort. The next day the paper realizes that it made a horrible mistake and that, in fact, it is John Smyth (different spelling) who is an escort. The paper immediately runs a retraction and apology, even before the wrongly-identified John Smith is aware of it. Because the newspaper corrected its error before he filed a suit, the paper will be protected from a libel suit by Smith.