According to Florida law, business defamation generally involves the publication of false statements that injure a person’s business reputation or reduce their commercial goodwill. This can include causing harm to a person’s trade, profession, the way they conduct business or to deter third persons from doing business with the defamed party:
(c) Evidence establishing that the gross sales at La Belle Epoque dropped off drastically as a result of Green’s defamatory letter was clearly admissible because it is well settled that a person may recover consequential business damages for a defamation, which, as here, tends to be prejudicial to him in the conduct of his trade or business or to deter third persons from doing business with him.15 Clearly, Green’s defamatory letter directly libeled Rety, who, as the 100% stockholder in La Belle Epoque, Inc., was entitled to show that the sales at the said restaurant drastically fell off as a result of the libel leveled against him, and that ultimately this led to the financial ruin of the restaurant which rendered his corporate stock in the restaurant worthless. These were all Rety’s individual business damages suffered as a result of the libel leveled against him and were not solely confined to damages sustained by La Belle Epoque, Inc. Indeed, if anything, the trial court unduly restricted the proof on this issue by refusing evidence offered by Rety establishing the value of the restaurant which he lost as a result of defamation sued upon.16
See: Rety v. Green, 546 So. 2d 410
Related:
Defamation of Lawyers, Doctors and other Professionals
Defamation of Character Claims
Defenses to Defamation Lawsuits
Florida Defamation Law – Main Index
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