Is this actionable?

[sandyclaus]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California

I am dealing with an idiot and her 2 friends in a Small Claims case. While at our latest hearing, I decided to try and work with a court mediator that was offered to us free of cost.

The 3 of us (myself, my son/co-plaintiff, and the woman) sat down and the mediator started by having me give an overview of what I was suing for and a breakdown of the damages I was seeking. In the middle of that, the idiot up and walked out of the mediation, deciding that she wasn't going to mediate after all. She then proceeded to go back into the courtroom, where the judge was already hearing cases, and started to have a loud conversation with her two friends while waiting for our case to be called. She made several false statements about me, right there in open court, intended for all to hear. The 15 people sitting in the courtroom, along with the judge himself, all heard the comments. The judge himself had to admonish her because she was so loud that it was interfering with the proceedings currently going on.

While the specific nature of the comments are unimportant here, and I realize that I bear the burden of proving my case, the question I have is whether I can even file against this woman because of where it occurred? I realize that what is said in court proceedings are protected from defamation actions in one's own case, but is there an exception when such things are published in an open courtroom outside one's own hearing?

 

[Hot Topic]

You say that what the woman said in the court was outside your hearing, but you give details of what she said and did and how the judge responded. I assume therefore that you're responding to her actions based on what your son, who was in court, told you.

You could file against her if the case goes against you, but you'll have to prove that the verdict was based on what she said and did after walking out on mediation.

 

[sandyclaus]

You say that what the woman said in the court was outside your hearing, but you give details of what she said and did and how the judge responded. I assume therefore that you're responding to her actions based on what your son, who was in court, told you.

You could file against her if the case goes against you, but you'll have to prove that the verdict was based on what she said and did after walking out on mediation.

To clarify:

I was still speaking with the mediator, along with my son, in a room outside the courtroom when this went on. The event was reported to me by my witness who remained the courtroom waiting for our case to be called while we attempted to mediate.

I don't believe what she said has any bearing on the Small Claims case itself. She was just basically trash-talking me within earshot of anyone who would listen prior to our own hearing. Clearly the judge could hear what she was saying, because it was loud enough that he had to tell her to be quiet (she was sitting in the back of the courtroom, and the judge is sitting on the bench no less than 30 feet away).

I am pretty confident that we have a fair-minded judge, as evidenced by how he runs his cases and how he judges them. If anything, I believe the woman did herself an injustice by carrying on the way she did in the courtroom during the session for all to hear. I just wanted to find out the legality of filing a defamation case against her in the courtroom situation. If I understand you correctly, it is possible, and I am not barred by the fact that it took place in a courtroom because it didn't take place during OUR hearing.

 

[quincy]

Privilege in the courtroom only extends to what is communicated as part of a judicial proceeding and the communications must bear some relationship to the proceeding. It covers the parties in a case - the defendant, the plaintiff, the witnesses, the attorneys, the judge, the court reporters. . . .it does not cover those who are mere observers in the courtroom.

For instance, I cannot take a bunch of friends into a courtroom and then say defamatory things about someone and be protected just because of the place where my comments were made. It is not the courtroom that provides the privilege but the circumstances.

So, yes, you could potentially bring a defamation action against the woman who said defamatory things about you in the courtroom. The judge, however, is unlikely to be swayed by anything she said, and I doubt if your reputation was harmed severely enough by her comments to make any action worthwhile. If, when you entered the courtroom, the people in the courtroom started throwing things at you or hissing, that might be a different story.