¶ … Mr. Knievel, Pursuant to your request I have reviewed the circumstances surrounding your concern as to whether you have a viable case for defamation. Please be advised that this analysis is based entirely upon the facts presented by you and that any variation in the actual facts can alter the situation entirely or mitigate the possible damages.

Please be aware that the area of defamation is a difficult one and that the elements of your claim are dependent entirely upon whether or not the defendant in this case is considered a public or private figure. Also, you should be aware that, unlike many causes of action, defamation laws vary significantly from state to state, so being full advised as to the law in your particular jurisdiction is essential.

Whether the defamation in your case is one of libel, a written statement, or slander, an oral statement, the statement itself must be false. A particular sensitivity or the revealing of an embarrassment does not qualify as defamation. The statement must be false and must be provable as such.

Before discussing the generalized defamation case, I should alert you to a hybrid form identified as "defamation per se." There are a limited number of jurisdictions that do not...

Generally speaking, statements accusing someone of a crime, imputing serious sexual conduct, casting adverse comment on someone's business practices, or stating that someone has a disease are considered to be defamatory per se.
Returning now to the generalized discussion, if the statement in question has not been published there is no cause of action. Publication means that the statement must have been heard or read by at least one third person. Obviously, the extent of the publication impacts not only on the viability of the claim but also on the measure of the damages.

One of the unique features of the law of defamation is that the status of the victim has a direct impact on determining whether a statement is considered actionable. In the case of a private figure it is enough that the statement be made negligently but in the case of a public figure the false statement must have also been made while the defendant, that is, the person making the statement, was acting with "actual malice" toward…