A slander of title will generally occur where one maliciously seeks to disparage another's interest to property, to make it unmerchantable, by recording an instru- ment whereby the maligner purports to have some interest in the property.
Written defamation is called "libel," and spoken defamation is considered "slander," and they both fall under "defamation." In the US, defamation is not usually a crime. Instead, it is a "tort" or civil wrong. Under the law, a person who has been defamed can seek damages from the perpetrator.
Illinois defines defamation as a false statement of fact about the plaintiff “published,” which means shared with another person, that harms the plaintiff's reputation (i.e. lowers the plaintiff in the eyes of the community). There are two categories of defamation in Illinois: defamation per se and defamation per quod.
Publishing false information about another business's product constitutes the tort of slander of quality, or trade libel. In some states, this is known as the tort of product disparagement. It may be difficult to establish damages, however.
“Illinois recognizes five categories of statements that are defamatory per se: (1) words that impute that a person had committed a crime; (2) words that impute that a person is infected with a loathsome communicable disease; (3) words that impute a person is unable to perform or lacks integrity in performing her or his ...
In order to state a claim for defamation under Illinois law, the plaintiff must show that the defendant made a false statement concerning plaintiff, that there was an unprivileged publication of the defamatory statement to a third party by the defendant and that the plaintiff was damaged.
A plaintiff asserting slander of title bears the burden of proving the following: (1) the defendant made a false and malicious publication; (2) the publication disparaged the plaintiff's title to property; and (3) damages due to the publication.
In Hardiman v. Aslam, 2019 IL App (1st) 173196, the court stated: “to prove defamation, a plaintiff must show that the defendant made a false statement about the plaintiff, there was an unprivileged publication to a third party by the defendant, and the statement damaged the plaintiff.” ¶4.