After a nonparty to the lawsuit allegedly told Defendant that Plaintiff was gay or bisexual,...

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After a nonparty to the lawsuit allegedly told Defendant that Plaintiff was gay or bisexual, Defendant relayed that information to a third-party defendant, a close family friend of Plaintiff’s longtime girlfriend, with the hope that the girlfriend would be told. Plaintiff, maintaining that Defendant’s actions caused the deterioration and ultimate termination of his relationship with his girlfriend, filed an action alleging slander per se. The defendant filed a motion to dismiss, arguing that the case was legally insufficient due to Plaintiff’s failure to allege special damages, which involve “the loss of something havingeconomicorpecuniaryvalue.” Do you think that the court ultimately found that the accusations of homosexuality or bisexuality amounted to defamation per se? Why or why not? [Yomanty v. Mincola,97 A.D.3d 141, 2012 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS XXXXXXXXXX).]

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Proving defamation has been an exceedingly difficult endeavor in the United States courts. The U.S., along with a substratum of common law specifications, a variety of additional layers of First Amendment firmament have been placed by the Supreme Court, starting with the seminal New York Times Co. v. Sullivan case.[footnoteRef:2] New provisions flowing from state statutory freedom of speech and the protection of the press have since found their way into individual states' defamation laws. In the provided case of Yonaty vs. Mincolla, the slander per se is examined by the court’s perspective, given that the defamatory statement was passed from defendant to the sensitive relationship of the plaintiff with his long term girlfriend. The disclosure of the sexual orientation as homosexual terminated his relationship. The decision of the court is landmark in this case reference which can be analyzed as following: [2: Hayes v. Smith, 832 P.2d 1022, 1025 (Colo. App. 1991).]
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After a nonparty to the lawsuit allegedly told Defendant that Plaintiff was gay or bisexual, Defendant relayed that information to a third-party defendant, a close family friend of Plaintiff’s...

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