Expert: Michael Troy - 12/6/2006

Question
Recently I came across a situation where a teacher lost a position as a playground supervisor, because a parent went to the administration with stories of unfair treatment due to the parent's involvement with the teacher's former position.  This accusation forced the teacher to leave the position due to her reputation being damaged by the statements made by the parent.  The exact statements were as follows:

"My child was put into a time out because this teacher does not like me because she thinks I'm going to take her job".

The teacher's rebuttal to this was that the child was physically harming other children, and needed to be appropriately punished.  The administration reprimanded the teacher, with no further research done into the situation.  Having said that, this rumor spread, and the teacher was relieved of her duties, and extra income she had from that, due to this parent's story she spread.  Is this probable cause for slander?

- David, 20. IL.

Answer
Hello,

The question is certainly defamatory and caused damage.  The big quesiton is whether it is false.  The statement questions the teacher's motivation in doing what she did. The truth behind motivation is almost impossible to prove without some incriminating statement.  It could also be argued that because it is obvious from the statement that the speaker did know know for a fact what the teacher's motivation was, it could be considered an opinion.  If the statement could not be shown to be false, or is deemed an opinion, an action for slander could not stand.

This is a factual dispute that could go either way in my opinion.

- Mike