In Virginia, citizens enjoy a qualified privilege to report suspected crimes to law enforcement. But what happens when such a report turns out to be wrong—or even wildly untrue? Can the accused sue for defamation? The answer, as highlighted
Virginia state courts have made it abundantly clear: if you’re going to sue someone for defamation, you’d better know exactly what they said—and be able to plead those words with precision at the outset of the case, without the
Parties to long-term service contracts often face considerable uncertainty when signs emerge that the other party may not follow through on its obligations. At common law, a party may bring an action for anticipatory breach only when the other party’s
Defamation liability isn’t limited to false statements made in direct and unequivocal terms; liability may also arise out of statements made by inference, implication, or insinuation. If a jury verdict is based on a statement of opinion (which might
One of the main goals of the Bankruptcy Code is to give honest debtors a chance to start over financially. But to strike a fair balance between helping debtors and protecting creditors’ rights to collect what they’re owed, the Code
In Virginia, as in other states, there must be a “meeting of the minds”—mutuality of assent—before a contract will be formed. This concept of mutual assent requires that the parties have a common, distinct and unambiguous intention regarding the material
To be actionable in Virginia, statements alleged to be defamatory must satisfy the “of and concerning” test: the statement at issue must expressly or impliedly refer to the plaintiff, in a manner clear enough to communicate that reference
Employees bound to non-solicitation agreements know they can get in trouble with their former employer if they try to recruit their former colleagues to join them at a competing company. What many don’t realize is that the new employer can
As a plaintiff in a defamation action, you’ll usually want to frame your claim as one involving defamation per se, a classification that would obviate the need to prove the specifc amount of damages you suffered that were directly
On January 21, 2025, the Virginia Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a defamation case brought by Kashyap Patel, a former official in the Trump administration, against CNN. The case is Patel v. Cable News Network, Inc. (Va. Ct.
