Also known as: false statement of fact · false statements of facts
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A factual assertion that is untrue. Such statements lack constitutional value under the First Amendment because they do not advance the search for truth and may cause reputational or other harm. Lawyers who make them to a tribunal must correct them upon learning of their falsity.
Saul represented Vertex Bio in a malpractice trial and told the court that a treatment chart entry was made on the day of the patient visit. After the court admitted the chart on that basis, Saul reviewed metadata showing the entry was added three days later. Saul must inform the court of the discrepancy to avoid leaving the tribunal under a material misapprehension.
Lopez posted on an activist blog that engineer Ortiz had accepted bribes from a turbine maker to approve unsafe equipment. The post was read by coworkers and industry colleagues. Ortiz can recover only by proving the accusation was a false statement of fact, was published, and was made with the required degree of fault.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Hustler Magazine published a parody advertisement depicting Reverend Falwell as having had an incestuous encounter with his mother in an outhouse. Falwell sued for intentional infliction of emotional distress. The parody could not support liability because no reasonable reader would take it as stating actual facts about Falwell.
The Virginia State Board of Pharmacy prohibited licensed pharmacists from advertising prescription drug prices. Consumer groups challenged the ban as a restriction on commercial speech. The Court held that the prohibition could not stand because it suppressed truthful information about lawful transactions rather than false statements of fact.
A television station aired the name of a rape victim obtained from public court records during coverage of the trial. The victim's family sued the broadcaster for invasion of privacy. The Court held that the First Amendment barred liability for publishing truthful information lawfully obtained from official records.
Dun & Bradstreet issued a credit report to five subscribers stating that Greenmoss Builders had filed for bankruptcy. The report was false. Because the report concerned a private matter and was not speech on a public concern, the company could recover presumed and punitive damages without proving actual malice.
A plaintiff must show a false and defamatory statement of fact, publication to a third party, fault on the part of the defendant, and either actionability without special harm or actual harm. The statement must be one that tends to harm reputation in the community.
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A lawyer must correct a false statement of material fact or law previously made to the tribunal once the lawyer learns of its falsity. The duty continues until the end of the proceeding even if the lawyer did not know the statement was false when first made.
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No. Only certain historically recognized categories of false speech, such as defamation, fraud, perjury, and false advertising, are unprotected because of the harms they cause. A statute that criminalizes false statements solely because they are false fails strict scrutiny.
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…not on the conscience of judges and juries but on the competition of other ideas. But there is no constitutional value in false statements of fact. Neither the intentional lie nor the careless error materially advances society’s interest in “uninhibited, robust, and wide-open” debate on public issues. New York Times Co. v. Sullivan ,…