Can I be taken to court for saying something bad but truthful about someone on Facebook?

[Jack]

My girlfriend of 5 years has been cheating on me with a married man. She verbally admitted it to me and I posted on my Facebook page "Sucks, my g/f of 5 years is cheating on me with a married man" She is now threatening to take me to court for slander. Is this possible?

[Abel H]

Well yeah you publicly slandered her.

[Mr. G]

No. See the definition to follow.

Slander: a false, malicious spoken statement, especially one which is injurious to a person's reputation; the making of such a statement; to utter a slanderous statement

Note the fact that it must be FALSE to qualify. Rub that in her face.

And actually, it would be libel, since it is written word, not spoken. Not that that matters, because the requirement for libel is the same; the statement must be false.

[Benjamin]

As far as I am aware (I'm not a legal expert), you have done nothing wrong if the allegations are true, or if you believed them to be true at the time of posting the comment. I think she would have to prove that you intentionally made up this false claim in order to destroy her reputation.

[Beefy Cheeks]

Suing for slander is not very common because it is actually quite difficult to prove.

In order to sue someone and take them to court for slander, you must provide proof that their words affected your reputation and caused monetary loss. Is there any way she can prove that your sentence on facebook caused her monetary loss? Nope. She's full of it... I would tell her to F Off and to stop reading your facebook if she doesn't like it. Either that, or just BLOCK her from reading what you write on there.

[Jess]

Anything is possible, but consider these things:

1) it costs money to take someone to Court

2) what is she expecting to gain out of this? An apology? Money?

3) did what you post cost her to lose wages in any way? Did she lose her job over it? Or did it just hurt her feelings?

I doubt she has the $85-$175 (depends on State and Court) it would cost to file this suit. She would also probably want to get an attorney, and that is guaranteed $250/hr, IF she could find one to take it. Any Judge that hears this will probably dismiss the case.

If she didn't lose anything monetarily, what kind of judgment is the Court expected to issue? The purpose of taking someone to Court is to gain back that which was either taken from you or owed to you. In this matter there would be nothing to give back.

[justme]

The number one defense to defamation (slander/libel) is truth. In other words, if something is true, you are not commiting illegal slander or libel against them.

If you know your statements are untrue and you post them anyway, you could theoretically be prosecuted for libel.

[R&N]

umm yeah that is a possibility...
sorry for your girlfriend

[zonryzita]

If I were you, I'd keep publishing TRUE statements about her. I'd publish something like, "GF for 5 years is now threatening me".

If she asks you about it, tell her, "How do you know I'm referring to YOU? I could've also been cheating on YOU with another girl for the last 5 years!"