At Munro Byrd, P.C., we also help defend individuals against baseless litigation. Our firm recently helped our clients defeat a specious defamation suit, obtaining a Roanoke Circuit Court decision dismissing those claims. When the disgruntled plaintiff appealed, we then assisted our clients before the Virginia Court of Appeals, which upheld the Roanoke Circuit Court’s decision.
Our two individual clients were sued for compensatory and punitive damages. In the filed Complaint, the plaintiff alleged that our clients made false and defamatory statements in a custody investigation brought by the Roanoke Department of Social Services against the plaintiff. The plaintiff also alleged other defamatory statements were made thereafter. Because the claim generally arose out of a social services investigation and a custody dispute, we were able to research and assert some particularly effective defenses.
In addition to arguing that the statements at issue were themselves false or defamatory, we argued in the Roanoke City trial court that the statements were subject to a qualified privilege pursuant to Virginia Code § 63.2-1512. That Code section grants immunity to persons who make reports to child protective services so long as the person making the report doesn’t act “in bad faith or with malicious intent.” We also asserted that the lawsuit was barred by Virginia’s one-year statute of limitation for defamation claims (see Va. Code § 8.01-247.1) and that the lawsuit was otherwise defective as a matter of law.
The Roanoke City Circuit Court agreed with our arguments and dismissed the plaintiff’s Complaint with prejudice (meaning it could not be amended or brought again). Unhappy with the result, the plaintiff appealed to the Virginia Court of Appeals, the intermediate appellate court whose jurisdiction expanded in 2022 to allow plaintiffs in such civil cases one appeal as a matter of right. The Court dismissed plaintiff’s appeal without the need for oral argument, because the briefing foreclosed the appeal conclusively. The Court of Appeals credited our argument that the appeal failed to properly identify any legitimate error committed by the Roanoke City Circuit Court. This resulted in a complete and efficient victory for our clients.
Our firm regularly handles defamation cases in Roanoke City and the surrounding areas, for both plaintiffs and defendants. If you think that you have been defamed, or if you are being sued for defamation, please contact our law firm for an evaluation.
We cannot promise similar results in all cases. We litigate such cases throughout Virginia, including in Roanoke City and County, Montgomery County (Christiansburg, Blacksburg), Lynchburg, Abingdon, Martinsville, Rocky Mount, Wytheville, Bedford, Covington, Harrisonburg, Richmond, Charlottesville, Lexington, or Staunton. We practice in rural areas like Bath County, Campbell County, Giles County, Craig County, Smyth County, Alleghany County, Pulaski County, Franklin County, Campbell County, Carroll County, Patrick County, Floyd County, Stuart County, Pittsylvania County, Henry County, and Wythe County. We also litigate in Virginia federal courts, including those divisions in Roanoke, Abingdon, Danville, Harrisonburg, Charlottesville, Alexandria, and Richmond.