Sued Libel facts

While investigating facts about Journalist Sued Libel and Famous Sued Libel, I found out little known, but curios details like:

Tesla sued Top Gear for libel after Top Gear claimed their car would have run out of juice after 55 miles on the race track - without actually having driven the distance. Ironically, the 55 mile range was calculated and relayed to Top Gear by Tesla's own engineers, and Tesla lost the lawsuit.

how to not get sued for libel?

There is an informal "Small Penis" rule, which authors use to protect themselves against libel lawsuits, by saying that a character they based off of someone else has a small penis, which stops most people from wanting to associate themselves with that character by suing the author.

What are the consequences of being sued for libel?

In my opinion, it is useful to put together a list of the most interesting details from trusted sources that I've come across. Here are 23 of the best facts about Sued For Libel and Can The President Be Sued For Libel I managed to collect.

what is being sued for libel?

1. In 1998 a group of cattle ranchers sued Oprah after she made disparaging comments about beef and 13 states have food libel laws which allows companies to sue people who speak badly about their food.

2. The disclaimer that now appears at the end of every American film, (“The preceding was a work of fiction, any similarity to a living person etc.”) first appeared because Rasputin’s assassin Felix Yusupov successfully sued MGM for libel against his wife in the movie “Rasputin and the Empress”

3. The satire show Have I Got News For You once published about a British politician: "Given Mr Allason's fondness for pursuing libel actions, there are also excellent legal reasons for not referring to him as a conniving little shit." He promptly sued and lost.

4. In Britain, an employer cannot give a subjective bad reference as they can be sued for libel or defamation of character. Any negative remarks must be defendable in a court of law, which is why employers will usually opt to say nothing instead.

5. Until 2008, the largest libel award in Canada went to Casey Hill, who successfully sued the Church of Scientology of Toronto and one of their lawyers for damages in libel, and was awarded combined sum of $1,600,000 in 1995.

6. The Hartford Courant the U.S.'s oldest newspaper in continuous publication, starting as a weekly paper in 1764. It claims George Washington placed an ad in it to lease part of his Mount Vernon land, Thomas Jefferson sued it for libel and lost, and Mark Twain was denied from buying stocks in it.

7. Dick Wolf was sued for libel because a Law & Order episode was too "ripped from the headlines" to provide anonymity.

8. The then-owner of Kentucky Fried Chicken unsuccessfully sued Colonel Sanders for libel in the 1970s after he publicly described the chain's gravy as "sludge" that tasted like wallpaper paste. Despite their differences, he remained the public face of KFC until his death in 1980 at age 90.

9. In 1870, John Hampden lost a bet over whether the Earth is flat. Alfred Wallace won the bet by accounting for atmospheric refraction. Hampden accused Wallace of cheating, sued for his money, and, several protracted court cases later, was imprisoned for threatening to kill Wallace and for libel.

10. Tesla's Founder was Martin Eberhard, that he was ousted as CEO in 2007, and he subsequently sued Tesla and Musk in 2009 for libel, slander and breach of contract

What is true about sued libel?

You can easily fact check it by examining the linked well-known sources.

In 1959 Liberace sued Daily Mirror columnist William Connor for libel after he published an article strongly hinting that Liberace was homosexual. He was awarded £8000 in damages.

In 2006 the commodities trading firm Trafigura dumped 500 tons of toxic waste in Cote d'Ivoire rather than pay to have it properly disposed of. The waste was tied to 17 deaths and 30,000 illnesses; Trafigura then sued the BBC for libel over a report detailing the illegal dumping and cover-up. - source

In 1969, Barry Goldwater sued Fact Magazine that called him in 1964 during Republican primaries "psychologically unfit to be a President" for libel and won - source

Playwright Oscar Wilde was in a feud with the Marquess of Queensberry, inventor of the Queensberry rules of boxing, due to dating the Marquess's son. Wilde later sued him for libel, which backfired when the Marquess exposed his lifestyle, which was illegal during the Victorian Era.

William Playfair—the statistician who invented the pie chart, bar graph, and line graph—blackmailed a Scottish lord, was sued for libel, almost jailed for fraud, and forced to flee to France after sending several Scottish aristocrats to settle on American land tracts he didn’t really own. [PDF] - source

When employers have been sued for monitoring the content?

In 1877 painter James Whistler sued critic John Ruskin for libel. Whistler won but was awarded damages of just one farthing and no award of costs and, bankrupted by court costs, had to sell his home, while Ruskin soon withdrew from public life

How much can you be sued for libel?

An informal “Small Penis” rule, which authors use to protect themselves against libel lawsuits, by saying that a character they based off of someone else has a small penis, which stops most people from wanting to associate themselves with that character by suing the author.

Two female librarian students calling themselves #teamharpy accused a male colleague of sexual predation and harassment, refused to provide facts or witnesses, started a crowdfund when they were sued for libel, then admitted their accusations were false.

When actress Shirley Jones (of The Partridge Family) sued the National Enquirer for libel, she became part of a U.S. Supreme Court precedent for personal jurisdiction

Two female librarian students calling themselves #teamharpy accused a male colleague of sexual predation and harassment, refused to provide facts or witnesses, started a crowdfund when they were sued for libel, then admitted their accusations were false.

The Pink Floyd lyric..."hey you, Whitehouse, haha! Charade you are..." Is referring to a British social activist who fought in favor of censorship and who once successfully sued a gay rights tv show for 'blasphemous libel'