Expert Witnesses in Business Defamation Cases Explain Extent of Damages

However, when it occurs to a business, the consequences are often severe due to the damage caused. This could lead to losing clients, customers or the trust of the public in products or services. Catastrophic impact of this manner could lead to the worst case where the company must close because of the actions of an individual or group that defamed the organization.

Defamation is when a person provides statements that are usually false either through spoken or written words where an individual’s reputation is harmed in the process. These actions don’t usually lead to criminal charges, but even if they were to, this does not provide any type of damages to the affected party. Defamation is a civil issue that requires litigation against the perpetrator so that a remedy to the situation may be provided. Through laws that protect persons in this manner, action may be taken. This could provide compensation, but a retraction and negation of the statements is needed so that there is the possibility of repairing the reputation of the victim.

How would Defamation Harm a Business?

An example that may be best suited to how defamation could easily harm a business is through word of mouth spreading about a false fact directed at a product. This could be a potato chip that has been said to contain bugs eggs. Another may be a soda that was manufactured in a third world country through child labor. While these may not be truthful, they are harmful to business, and it could lead to a large dip in sales. This could continue until the product is no longer trusted by the consumer, and a large enough avoidance may mean the cancelling of the item. With these concerns, defamation may harm a company with greater intent than was originally applied.

False facts may affect a business in another manner. It is possible that the company may lose employees and staff through rumors and statements that are inaccurate or incorrect being passed through by workers. This may lead to a loss of productivity and a lack of timely manufacturing or distributing the products. This in turn affects the amount of revenue that is accrued over time. The morale of those working within the company is also affected by falsehoods being produced. However, to defame the company, these falsehoods would need to be made public. Once that is accomplished, numerous employees may leave the employ of the company.

Expert Witness Explaining the Extent of Damages

Many expert witnesses are hired by the lawyer based on the subject matter so that they may reconstruct the incident, provide specialized knowledge to a case or translate information for a judge or jury. With defamation cases, these professionals are needed to both explain how the false statements affected the company and the full extent of damages the incident caused through time. This may require a calculation starting with the initial dip in revenue, but some defamation situations cannot be quantified solely based on income or money figures. When the employees are affected and lead to a loss in productivity, this may be added to the damages as economic loss.

The expert witness may need to slowly go through the process of the false information being applied through the public’s eye and memory. Structuring a conclusion of the full extent of the damages cause usually takes a timeline from the original publication until the problem has been remedied by a retraction or the perpetrator recanting his or her lies. Unfortunately, in most instances of these crimes, the damage the defamation act caused continues to spread and persist even when the statements have been refuted. This makes the job of an expert witness more difficult unless the amount of hemorrhaging revenue has already stopped.

The Expert Witness in Defamation Cases

Many professionals hired for defamation cases have experienced what these lies have done to other companies. With widespread damage, it is possible to witness a business fail. This means that remedying the situation is of the utmost importance for the victim company affected by the perpetrator. With the use of a business lawyer and an expert witness, the chances of success are much greater than without.

Provided by HG.org

Disclaimer: While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer.