3 Reasons Why a Defamation Trial Should Be a Last-resort Move for the Plaintiff

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3 Reasons Why a Defamation Trial Should Be a Last-resort Move for the Plaintiff

17 May 2016
 Categories: , Blog


Defamation laws allow you to sue for damages when someone hurts your reputation. As usually with injury lawsuits, your case will proceed to trial if you can't reach an out-of-court settlement. As a plaintiff, it is your right to do everything in your power to win. However, there are good reasons why it is in your best interest to push for an out-of-court settlement instead. Here are a few examples of such reasons.

1. Increased Reach of the Publication

A courtroom battle can increase the rich of the damaging publication, making it available even to those who couldn't have heard or read it in the first place. Consider an example where a business rival lies about you to a group of potential clients during a lunchtime meeting. If you settle the issue out of court, there is a high chance few people other than those directly involved will hear about it. If it goes to trial, the potential audience increases, and people being who they are, they might just believe the lies about you and make it harder to convince them otherwise.  

2. Increased Scrutiny of Your Life

Expect the defendant and their legal team to come after you with everything if the case proceeds to trial. Your life, present and future, will be turned upside down in a bid to discredit you or portray you as an unreliable. For example, if the defamatory statement claimed that you belong to an outlawed sect, they may scrutinize your past to try to reveal past affiliations with similar organizations. Even if you are "clean" as fast as the sect membership is concerned, other aspects of your life that you may wish to remain private might come to light.

3. Reduced Return Over Investment

Finally, an out-of-court settlement might give you a better return on investment (ROI) than a trial if you are looking at it in purely monetary terms. Cases that proceed to trial tend to incur more legal costs than those that settle out of the courtroom. Also, defamation is a factual-based issue, which means you need considerable investment to prove it. The investment comes in the form of expert witnesses' testimony, witnesses' depositions, case research, and similar things, all of which cost money.

This doesn't mean that you shouldn't proceed to court if you have a defamation lawsuit against a person. However, it's in your best interest to sue an out-of-court settlement. With your lawyer's advice, going to court may only be good as the last option. For more insight visit resources like http://josephbwolfley.com.