San Diego, California Defamation Lawyers
We are here to help when you need it most, and you can rest assured your reputation is in good hands.
False accusations, damaging media statements, and harmful rumors can have serious consequences, affecting your career, business, and personal relationships. When your reputation is at risk, taking swift legal action is essential.
Minc Law serves individuals and businesses in San Diego, helping them fight back against defamation, remove harmful content, and hold those responsible accountable.
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Can You Sue For Defamation of Character in San Diego, California?
Yes, California law allows individuals and businesses to sue for defamation of character. Defamation is defined as the publication of a false statement to a third party that results in harm to another person’s reputation and good standing. The core of a defamation claim hinges on whether the published statement caused reputational damage. In California, a valid defamation claim must involve a false statement of fact, published without privilege to a third party, made with at least negligence, and either defamatory per se or causing special damages (defamation per quod).
The required level of fault depends on the plaintiff’s status. Private individuals must show negligence, meaning the defendant failed to exercise reasonable care before making the statement. Public figures, such as celebrities, government officials, and individuals who voluntarily engage in public controversies, must prove actual malice, meaning the defendant knew the statement was false or acted with reckless disregard for the truth.
California has a one-year statute of limitations for defamation claims. This means that a lawsuit must be filed within one year of the statement’s first publication. California follows the single publication rule, which means the statute of limitations begins on the date the statement was first published, even if it remains available online or is later shared by others. However, modifications to defamatory content online may restart the statute of limitations.
Understanding Defamation in San Diego, California
Under California law, defamation is categorized as either libel or slander. Libel refers to written or published false statements, including those in news articles, blogs, social media posts, and online reviews. Slander refers to spoken false statements, such as those made on television, radio, podcasts, or in personal conversations. Both forms of defamation can cause significant harm to a person’s reputation, career, and personal life.
Certain statements are considered defamation per se, meaning harm is presumed, and the plaintiff does not need to prove specific damages. California recognizes nine categories of statements as defamatory per se, including false statements that:
- Accuse someone of committing a crime.
- Label a person as a “communist.”
- Claim that a person has an infectious, contagious, or loathsome disease.
- Subject someone to public hatred, ridicule, or contempt.
- State that a person is impotent or unchaste.
- Injure someone in their profession, trade, or business.
- Accuse someone of violating a confidence entrusted to them.
- Cause a person to be shunned or avoided.
- Accuse someone of treachery against their associates.
If a statement does not fall into one of these categories, the plaintiff must prove defamation per quod, meaning they must provide evidence of actual harm, such as financial losses or damage to professional relationships.
California does not have criminal defamation laws, meaning defamation is only handled as a civil matter. However, defamation plaintiffs may be able to seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, and injunctive relief to remove defamatory content.
Where are Local Defamation Cases Typically Handled in San Diego?
Defamation cases in San Diego are typically filed in the San Diego County Superior Court, located at 330 W Broadway, San Diego, CA 92101. For cases involving online defamation, multi-state defendants, or complex jurisdictional issues, a lawsuit may be filed in federal court.
What If You’re Unsure Whether You Have a Defamation Case?
Not every case of reputational harm fits neatly into California’s legal definition of defamation—but that doesn’t mean you’re out of options. Many individuals and businesses dealing with false or misleading statements have legal remedies that don’t require filing a lawsuit.
If you’re facing reputational damage, it’s important to explore all available solutions. Our attorneys can help assess your situation and determine the best course of action to protect your name, whether through legal action or other strategic approaches.
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How We Help Victims of Defamation in San Diego
We help businesses of all sizes and individuals from all walks of life control their online image and reputation.
Defamation Lawsuits
We have a proven track record of success in handling defamation cases, including those involving high-profile individuals.
Content Removal
Our team can remove virtually any type of content from the internet, including defamatory statements, false allegations, images, videos, outdated news articles, mugshots, and criminal records.
Social Media Defamation
We have deep experience navigating the complex world of social media, efficiently removing false and harmful posts, comments, and profiles that threaten our clients’ reputations.
Cease and Desist Letters & Retraction Demands
Our attorneys craft powerful cease and desist letters that get results, compelling attackers to remove false content and stop harassing behavior without the need for drawn-out legal battles.
Media Counseling
We take a proactive approach to prevent reputational attacks, working with media outlets to ensure they get the story right before publication. When false or misleading stories are published, we act swiftly to set the record straight, securing corrections, retractions, and apologies while limiting the spread of misinformation.
Fake Business Reviews
We have a strong track record of identifying and removing fraudulent reviews from major platforms like Google, Yelp, Glassdoor and TripAdvisor.
We have litigated over 350 cases in 26 states and 5 countries.
We have removed 200,000+ pieces of defamatory and damaging online content.
Awards and settlement dollars obtained for clients.
We Get Results for Our San Diego Defamation Clients
These testimonials reflect the real life experiences of individuals and businesses who are or have been clients of Minc Law.
Expertise ● Experience ● Results
Dr. Davis
Paul & Drew
Taft
But Don’t Just Take Our Word For It
“Minc Law helped us remove false and damaging claims from Reddit, where a competitor was using their position as a moderator to attack our business. Thanks to Minc, every post and comment was taken down, and what was once on page one of Google is now gone. This truly helped our business rebound.“
Dan Castle
Founder, CastleFlexx
“We needed a law firm that truly understood defamation, and Minc Law delivered. They didn’t just get results – they restored my reputation. In the end, we secured an apology and a settlement that covered most of my legal expenses, and I felt made whole again.”
Taft Wireback
Journalist
“Our firm was hit with fake negative reviews—two a day for months—designed to manipulate Google’s algorithm. Minc Law didn’t just stop the attacks; they helped us win a crucial appellate court victory, proving that online defamation can be fought and won.“
James Amaro
Attorney & Founder, Amaro Law Firm
Ready to Restore Your Good Name With
San Diego Defamation Lawyer Services?
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Why Choose Minc Law for Your San Diego Defamation Matter?
Unmatched Expertise in California Defamation Law
We exclusively focus on defamation and reputation attacks, utilizing cutting-edge cyber investigation tools and legal strategies.
Proven Track Record of Success
We bring experience and innovation to the table, having successfully resolved thousands of cases and earned 7+-figure verdicts and settlements.
Trusted, Licensed Professionals
Our team handles each case with sensitivity, urgency, and care, ensuring that your unique needs are met with a personalized approach.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Like doctors, attorneys often focus their practice on a particular field. If you have a complicated legal problem, just as if you had a complicated medical problem, you want to consult with an expert in that area.
It may be that your defamation case is straightforward. If that is the case, a lawyer who infrequently handles defamation cases may provide adequate legal representation. However, in nuanced and quickly changing areas of the law, like internet defamation, it is often preferable to choose a firm or lawyer who handles these types of cases on a daily basis.
Failure to hire an expert in defamation could lead to receiving substandard legal advice. It could also lead to overpayment. This is because you could be paying the lawyer to “learn the ropes.”
An experienced defamation attorney already knows the particularities of the jurisdiction’s rules, can quickly spot what your claims are, and can intuit what the defenses might be. Furthermore, they often already have established relationships that could lead to a quick take-down of materials or resolution outside of litigation.
The cost to bring a defamation lawsuit depends on numerous variables, including:
- A particular court’s filing fees,
- The lawyer’s billable rate and fee structure,
- Where the defamation took place and how extensive it is,
- The defamation law that applies to your case,
- The availability of evidence to prove your case,
- How easy it is to identify and find the defendant(s),
- Whether the defendant will contest your allegations,
- The amount of discovery needed,
- How long the litigation lasts,
- Whether time is of the essence,
- The need to hire local counsel and their billable rates,
- The number of court appearances required,
- The amount of monetary damages requested, and
- The kind of legal or non-legal relief requested.
As you can see, there is no simple answer to determining what your total defamation lawsuit cost will run you. But to help give you an idea of what to expect, here are a few rough numbers:
- On the low end, your defamation lawsuit may cost $5,000 to $7,500.
- On the upper end, trials in defamation cases may cost you between $30,000 and $60,000, with an average monthly cost of $4,000 to $6,000.
- The average defamation lawsuit often costs about $14,000 to $16,000 for most cases at Minc Law.
No, not all cases go to trial. Often, we can successfully remove defamatory content and resolve the matter without a trial. However, if litigation is necessary, we are fully prepared to represent you in court.
A question we are asked often by prospective clients at Minc Law is ‘How Long Does it Take to Sue For Defamation?’ Filing a defamation lawsuit is rarely a “quick fix” for your issue. The length of time it takes to resolve a defamation lawsuit can vary is and impacted by a variety of major factors, including:
- Whether you are seeking monetary relief,
- If the case is contested by the opposing party,
- If a defamer’s identity is unknown or known, and
- If the case proceeds all the way to trial.
At Minc Law, we find that roughly 90% of our defamation lawsuits take anywhere from 6 to 12 months from filing to full resolution.
Before hiring a defamation attorney to file a defamation lawsuit, we recommend that you ask yourself if you are willing to be patient.
Lawsuits involve several steps, each of which takes considerable time. If you proceed with a lawsuit, expect to work through the following procedures:
Initial Pleadings
Pleadings are formal documents filed with the court and can consist of complaints, answers, responses, motions, amendments, and counterclaims. Most state and federal courts allow anywhere from 30-60 days for the defendant to respond to an initial complaint once it has been served upon them. However, this timeline can extend greatly if motions to dismiss are filed before the Defendant responds.
Discovery
This is where all parties involved in a case get and disclose their evidence to decide if they should march towards trial or negotiate an early settlement.
State courts generally require discovery to be completed within 60-120 days after a pretrial conference (if applicable in your state) but motions for extension of time or stays can push this deadline back even further.
Dispositive Motions
Sometimes during litigation, special motions are filed that cannot be bypassed without a 30-60-minute hearing. Litigants can be given months to file these motions.
Many judges only have a limited number of slots available for these types of hearings, so they need to be scheduled in advance, sometimes as far as six months out, depending on the judge’s calendar.
Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR)
Most states require ADR with a neutral third party before a trial is to take place.
This is the court’s last-ditch effort to make sure a matter cannot be settled before going in front of the judge. The most common forms of ADR are mediation and arbitration.
Trial
This is the final step of the litigation process and the most anticipated. There are six phases to a trial: choosing a jury, opening statements, witness testimony and examinations, closing arguments, jury instruction, and deliberation ending in a verdict.
The amount of time needed for a trial varies upon several different factors but usually takes between one and three weeks.
You probably would not want to sue someone if you did not stand to gain anything in the long run. After all, lawsuits can be costly and stressful.
Before you hire a defamation lawyer, you should consider what you stand to gain – and if it is the most appropriate action to resolve your defamation issue.
How Will Winning a Defamation Lawsuit Improve My Reputation?
Even if you do not own your own business, your online reputation matters. Did you know that most businesses check your social media before making a hiring decision? Chances are you already knew that. But you may not realize that even potential romantic partners will often Google you before a date.
That is right: your online reputation stands to affect the most important aspects of your life.
If search results for your name yield negative or defamatory content, it could impact both your love life and your earning capacity. It stands to reason, then, that winning a defamation lawsuit and removing negative online content could boost your reputation. When potential employers (or dates) search for you online, they will only find the non-defamatory information that you want them to find.
How Will Winning an Defamation Lawsuit Benefit My Business?
If you have a business, your online reputation arguably matters even more than an individual’s. Gone are the days when people patronized businesses simply because they are local or featured in the Yellow Pages.
Today, customers search out businesses online and they care about what they find. The importance of online reviews is ever increasing, and negative content can cause immeasurable damage. Defamatory content, in particular, has long been known to harm business owners (even before the internet). So, it behooves business owners to fight any negative content found online.
If false reviews and comments are hurting your business, a defamation lawsuit might be a lifeline to restore the name you have worked hard to establish. Not only can a lawsuit lead to the removal of negative content, but you can also be compensated for damages to your business’s reputation.
What Kind of Damages Are Awarded in a Defamation Lawsuit?
There are several different types of damages you can collect if you win a defamation lawsuit. In most defamation cases, a victim can recover the following defamation damages:
- Actual or compensatory damages – which reimburse you for actual losses, emotional distress, and reputational harm
- Nominal damages – which reimburse you a minimal amount that acknowledges you have suffered a legal wrong even if you do not prove actual damages
- Punitive damages – which are awarded to punish and deter wrongful conduct.
However, we have learned that potential clients are rarely concerned with the legal terms for damages. Instead, clients want to know exactly how they are going to collect on a judgment.
If the defamer has a regular income, you might be able to garnish wages directly out of their paycheck. Granted, both states and the federal government dictate if, how, and when you can garnish wages. Usually, you can only garnish up to 25% of the defamer’s disposable income. Occasionally defendants have insurance coverage for defamation lawsuits that can also provide relief.
Unfortunately, you cannot garnish social security, disability, retirement, child support, and alimony payments.
If the defamer has a bank account, you may be able to collect a from their checking, savings, money market, or mutual funds. To levy someone’s account(s), you will need some information first (like the name of the bank, routing number, and the account number). An attorney can usually determine this information through the court, if necessary.
Funds such as public benefits, retirement plans, and insurance proceeds are still exempt if they are kept in a personal account.
If the defamer owns real estate, you may also be able to record a lien against their property to collect your judgment. Likewise, you may be able to collect other assets like an inheritance, personal property, and an ownership interest in a business.
To get started, the process is straightforward:
1. You can reach out to us by calling us at (216) 373-7706, speaking with a chat agent, or filling out our online contact form.
2. Next, a Minc Law representative will reach out to you to better understand your legal issue, and determine if we are the right fit for your unique matter. From there, they will discuss scheduling your consultation with an attorney.
3. During your consultation, an attorney will evaluate your case’s potential, determine the best strategy, and discuss the expected costs and timeline to resolve your matter. If you decide to move forward with Minc Law, we will draft an engagement letter for your review/signature and then begin working on your case.
All in all, this process takes between 1-3 business days. Please feel free to reach out to us by any of the methods mentioned, and we’ll be ready to assist.
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