I suspect that I may be the victim of libel; what can I do if my suspicions are correct?

Without revealing too much information, there's a group of people whom I used to call "friends," who are no longer my friends. Before and during our falling out, we had engaged in several debates, during which I was accused of many flaws which are simply not true (not to mention, the former friends had demonstrated all of the flaws that they accused me of). Since then, I have found myself being shunned by some of my peers, and I suspect that there may be a connection between the two. While I have yet to confirm any such connection, I would still like to be prepared to take the issue to court if necessary.

 

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Anything on paper or do you have people that will go to trial to help you with what they have been told? If not then you don't have much chance.

 

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Paper, no. But most of the incidents were online, and I can retrieve that data.

 

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Hopefully you can figure out how to resolve this issue without the courts. Court won't be fun, and will likely be a waste of time and money... What is it you hopeto get out of it?

 

I hope to put all of this behind me, by settling the issue once and for all. Granted, I'd much rather prove my position correct without the use of force, legal or otherwise, and I'm not a fan of silencing any position, no matter how wrong it is. On the other hand, these people have proven to me that they don't care about honesty or objective reality, and if it turns out that they are presenting their false claims as fact in order to turn others against me, well... isn't that the very definition of libel?

 

Not much to go on, but still:

(1) Jurisdiction: In what jurisdiction did the alleged libel occur? The first thing you need to know is what the applicable laws say about what constitutes libel.

(2) Connections: You will have to demonstrate the connection between the alleged libel and the alleged harm.

(3) Complicating details: Even in what seem the most obvious of cases, there are always details our outlooks have not accounted for. For instance, even accounting for (1) and (2) above, a court can look at the environment in which the alleged libel took place and decide that the question of whether or not it really is libel is rendered moot. Furthermore, a court can simply see the alleged libel differently, perhaps asserting that regardless of whether or not it is actually true there was sufficient reason why such libel does not translate to legal liability.​

And some of this even counts if your suspicions are confirmed. But that's the thing; any more precise a projection will depend on what details we have to work with.

 

from OP: " I was accused of many flaws which are simply not true " That may be hard to prove. They can hold any opinion of you they like. Also Tiassa is correct - for legal action you need to show harm - Just not being your friend or shunning you now is within their rights, even if you consider it "harm."

My advise - don't reward lawyers - get some new friends instead.

 

Good advice.

Look what happened to this British MP.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/nov/27/andrew-mitchell-plebgate-libel-case-legal-costs