Disparagement of a person. How to solve such a conflict.

How important is the public image for yourself? Most likely your answer to this question will be the same, especially if you’re a politician, a businessman, you hold any kind of public office or you are a public person.

Even though everyone is entitled to a personal opinion and free speech, this does not mean that disparagement of a person on facebook, other social networks or face to face is a socially acceptable phenomenon. 

Disparagement of a person is found in the Penal Code and under Decision 187/2006, the one that refers to protection of human dignity and the right to one’s own image.

Find out more about this, but also how to solve this kind of litigation. 

What are the consequences of disparagement? 

People who have been disparaged repeatedly could consider that they are harassed, especially if repeating this attack leads to injury to reputation. The case for injury to reputation may be made when the way someone is perceived by society has been influenced by the statements or actions of another person.

If the public perceptions about the person are negatively impacted, his reputation has suffered an injury. 

What are the exceptions? 

Even though every person has a right to private life, and as such there is a clear interdiction against publishing, divulging, and distributing information of a personal nature without the subject’s permission, there are still some exceptions. 

The right to one’s own image is not an absolute right, so there are some justified situations when this right may be breached without suffering the consequences. These are such cases: 

• If the concerned party has given his/her consent;
• If other rights and liberties are exercised, but in good faith and under the rule of law;
• If there are any exceptions agreed upon legally or by international conventions and agreements referring to human rights. 

Practical examples of disparagement

There are a couple of ways in which a person may be disparaged and suffer injury to reputation.

Among the most popular methods are: 

• By publishing or distributing defamatory articles;
• By distributing of video/audio materials with fake or defamatory information;
• By publishing/distributing videos/photos in which the subject is in a private space or in a compromising situation. 

How can disparagement conflicts be solved? 

Sadly, there are countless examples of disparagement, both in public and private spaces.

For example, there are situations in which disgruntled employees publicly disparage their employer, that is why background checks are necessary.

No matter what type of situation you are facing, you have to follow certain steps: 

• Collecting evidence which attests to the fact that you have been disparaged. We’re talking here about fragments of defamatory materials. These pieces of evidence may be screenshots of conversations, audio/video recordings, social media posts and so on;
• Writing the request for the summons. You have to mention the prejudice, the identity of the perpetrator, the evidence gathered and what you hope to obtain after the trial (ceasing of defamation, payment of material damages). There are certain judicial technicalities to account for, as such we recommend consulting our team of experts!  
• Adding the stamp and posting the request for the summons with the receipt for the stamp tax;
• Waiting for the summons which will detail the place, time and date you’ll have to attend in order to support your claims. Court costs will be paid by the incriminated party if you win the case. 

We must also mention two very important points.

Firstly, such a trial may take a very long time so, in the meantime, you may request that the defendant be forced to stop any and all defamatory actions. 

Secondly, winning is never guaranteed. There are situations where it will be proven that you are not right or, even if rights have been broken, there will be no obligation to pay for damages.

If you want to maximize your chances of winning, you’d better contract business intelligence services that may help you gather more evidence. 

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