Are there any lawyers on here that can answer a defamation suit question?
At what point does an accused person, who is later found innocent, get to turn around and sue the accuser for defaming their name with a false accusation?
The elements of defamation are:
- A false or defamatory statement about plaintiff;
- Published to a 3rd party;
- That the defendant was at least negligent in making.
Regarding (1), the statement must be
factual in nature. At no point has ND flatly stated that "X player cheated." They've stated that certain players are being
investigated for academic fraud. That's not defamation, even if the investigation completely vindicates some of them (the chances of which seem very low at this point).
(2) isn't really at issue here.
(3) is a gray area. When a "private" plaintiff is defamed, he needs only prove that the defendant was negligent in making the defamatory remarks. But when the plaintiff is a public figure, he must prove that the defendant
knew the defamatory remarks were untrue, and made them anyway. Regardless of how a court would classify the players at issue, I see no plausible way that ND acted negligently or maliciously here. The whole "under investigation" thing precludes it.