- 1). Gather Your Evidence
If you haven't already, make a hard copy of the statements that were made by the person you are going to sue. If the statements were made by phone or in a verbal conversation, then get a written statement from the person who heard the slander - do not write the statement yourself, or it will become hearsay and inadmissible - and have the statement notarized. If the statements were made online, take screenshots of the posts that were made, along with any responses; each person who responds is one more person to add to the number of how many people heard or read the claims. If the statements were deleted before you were able to capture them, you can contact the owner and/or administrator of the website where the statements were made and have them pull the records for you.
Separate the statements into points, and count up how many separate claims were made, at what time, and who read them. You will need this information when you draft your complaint. - 2). Write Your Complaint
A complaint is a legal document that is filed with the court to initiate the lawsuit. You should contact the court where you will be filing before you begin writing your complaint to obtain the appropriate forms for filing, if there are any. If not, you can draft your complaint using a word processor. Check out "How to Write a Complaint" under "Resources" for more help.
Be sure to attach copies of the statements as exhibits to back up the claims. You should also attach evidence that prove the statements that were made were false. What you will use as evidence largely depends on the nature of the slanderous statements; for instance, if someone is alleging you have a disease that you do not have, you would want to attach a copy of your most recent medical records showing that this isn't the case. If the allegations state that you are plagiarizing someone else's work, a diagram or summary of how you created your work and a side-by-side comparison of your work and the work you alleged plagiarized will suffice as evidence that this obviously isn't true. Be sure to include your statement of damages at the bottom. If you are unsure of how much you should seek in monetary damages, then leave the statement open and ask the judge to decide for you.
If you can, enlist the help of an attorney to draft the complaint for you. If you don't know any attorneys, then you may want to consider paying an attorney just to write one up for this case. An attorney will be able to produce a better complaint, and in turn, a better outcome. - 3). File Your Complaint with the Court
Once you have finished drafting your complaint, take it over to the courthouse to file it. You will need to pay a filing fee, which can range anywhere from $25 to $200, depending on the jurisdiction and the amount you are seeking in damages. Once filed, you will receive a copy that you must make an additional copy of and mail to the person you are suing, who has just become the defendant. The court may also include a form for you to send to the defendant along with the copy of the complaint explaining that they are being sued and that they need to file an answer.
If the defendant chooses to respond to the complaint, they will need to file an answer. This will either deny every statement in your complaint, or admit each statement but argue that they shouldn't have to pay damages. Either way, with both concrete proof of the statements and proof that the statements are false, it doesn't really matter what the defendant says. After the answer is filed and you receive a copy of it, you enter what is called the discovery phase. - 4). Find Facts During Discovery
The discovery phase is the period between the complaint and the court date where both you and the defendant can make requests for documents, answers to interrogatories, and other evidence. You likely have enough already to prove your case in court, but a little more evidence can't hurt. You can send the defendant a list of questions asking them about the slanderous statements they made, when and why they made them, and how many people are told. Because these questions are answered under oath, if you prove that they lied in court, it's considered perjury. You can also send documents called subpoenas asking for copies of records that you may need or testimony from the defendant, the individuals who heard or read the slanderous statements, and the website where the slander took place. You may want to request the website's records for the defendant's username so you can prove they made the statements by matching their IP address to their name and physical address, as well. Almost anything and everything you need, you can request from the defendant and the other parties involved, and they must respond to your subpoena. - 5). Argue Your Case In Court
When discovery ends and the court date arrives, it's time to bring everything to take table. Bring with you copies of all of your evidence - even that which was already attached to the complaint - including any e-mails or correspondence that took place during and after the complaint was filed between you and the defendant. You'll get a chance to give your version of the events to the judge, and then the defendant will be asked to either prove the statements they made were absolutely true, or try to come up with an excuse for their actions. You will have your chance to prove that the statements the defendant made were complete lies, and show how many people the defendant spread these lies to. The more people you can prove read or spread the lies, the higher the monetary damages will be.
When you've finished proving your case, the judge will give their ruling, and then announce how much the defendant has to pay. They may also require the defendant to make a public apology on the website where the initial statements were made, and refrain from speaking to you or about you ever again.
When the court case is over and you've proved your case, enjoy your victory. Slander should never be tolerated by anyone, and you don't ever have to put up with it. You can rest easy knowing that not only did the defendant have to literally pay for their poor choices, but anyone who hears about the case will probably never make false statements about you in the future, knowing that you can - and will - sue for slander if they try.
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