Should You Sue?

• Author: Roger McConchie; David Potts
• Profession: Member of the Bars of British Columbia and Alberta/Member of the Bar of Ontario
• Pages: 21-26

CHAP

TER

T H R E E :

Should

You

Sue?

A.

THE

BASIC QUESTION

When

you are

attacked

by the

media, your competitors,

or

members

of the

public,

should

you sue for

libel? Assuming that

the

elements

of the

plain-

tiff's

case exist

and

that there

are no

defences, what other

factors

should

be

considered?

B.

WHY

SUE?

If

the

real answer

is

vengeance

or

money,

a

libel action

is

probably

not

war-

ranted. Usually,

a

libel action

should

only

be

instituted

if the

primary objec-

tive

is to

vindicate

the

plaintiff's

reputation.

C.

OTHER OPTIONS

Is

a

libel action

the

only method

of

achieving

the

particular objective

or can

that

be

accomplished

by an

apology, retraction,

or by

writing rebuttal arti-

cles

or

letters

to the

editor?

If a

request

for an

apology

has

been

spurned

by

a

defamer,

the

plaintiff

can

proceed with

a

libel action with greater equa-

nimity.

In the

preliminary letter

to the

defendant,

a

demand

for

payment

of

damages should normally

be

avoided;

it may be

viewed

as

"golddigging."

This does

not

mean that

a

libel action

may not

have important long-term

financial

implications.

The

destruction

of a

reputation

may

mean

the end of

a

corporation

or a

career.

But a

libel action should

be not be

viewed

as an

accounting exercise

in

which

you can

precisely weigh

the

cost

of the

law-

suit against

the

amount

of

money that

is

likely

to be

recovered

in

damages.

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