The short answer is yes, you can sue them if they are making public statements about you that they know to be false and those statements are as you have described them. Unfortunately, it is not necessarily quick or cheap to win this type of case.
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 order to state a cause of action for defamation in Illinois, the plaintiff must allege the following elements: The defendant made a false statement about the plaintiff; Made with actual malice or negligence; That was published to a third party; That damaged the plaintiff.
Slander of title occurs when an individual publishes false statements about the title to property (or the plaintiff's ownership interest) under circumstances that would lead one to reasonably foresee that a third party would be deterred from purchasing or leasing the property.
Under Illinois law, you may have a claim for defamation if you can prove that someone made a false statement about you. If you win, you may be entitled to economic and punitive damages. The law of defamation, however, is complicated and there are numerous defenses to defamation claims.
Alternatively, it is casting aspersion on someone else's property, business or goods, e.g., claiming a house is infested with termites (when it is not), or falsely claiming ownership of another's copyright (what allegedly occurred in the SCO v. Novell case). Slander of title is a form of jactitation.
Section15 of the Defamation Act 1996 applies qualified privilege to reports of public meetings that meet the statutory test. Lawful meetings held for the purpose of discussions of public interest could include local authority meetings, town hall debates or, as in this case, political rallies.
Under Illinois law, you may have a claim for defamation if you can prove that someone made a false statement about you. If you win, you may be entitled to economic and punitive damages. The law of defamation, however, is complicated and there are numerous defenses to defamation claims.
In Illinois, a defamation claim generally has three elements that the plaintiff the must prove in order to recover: (1) a false statement about the plaintiff; (2) made to a third party (also known as publication); (3) that harms the plaintiff's reputation.
“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 ...