If someone was publicly charged with child pornographyie…

Hello – my name is***** am a lawyer in Ontario, and I’ll be happy to help with your question today.

There are two parts to your question:

1. Can they sue you?
2. Would they win?

The good news is that if you are a little bit careful about what you say, they could not win a law suit against you for slander. If you saw the article on the cover of the newspaper, you can say: "I saw the newspaper write that this person was charged with possession of Child Pornography." You can't say that they are a child pornographer now, or that they were convicted, you should only say what you can prove is true. It is only slander if it is NOT true.

Unfortunately there is also bad news. It is quite common for people who have money to sue for slander even if they know they will not win. If this person can afford to spend more time on lawyer's fees than you can, then the process can drag on until you have no more money to pay a lawyer, and then sometimes their lawyer will be able to win because you can't defend yourself anymore.

So even if you have absolute proof that what you're saying is true, and therefore not slander, you would lose a lot of time and money if they sued you, even if they lost in the end.

You could also hire a lawyer to threaten to sue them for slander, and then either sue for the rumours they have spread, or negotiate that they will not say anything more about you, and you will not say anything about them.

I hope I have fully answered your question, but please do not hesitate to ask for more information if needed. When you are satisfied with the answer, kindly provide me a positive rating so I can receive credit for my answer.

My answer here contains only general legal information and not legal advice. No solicitor/client relationship has been created by this communication.