{"id":904057,"date":"2025-03-06T15:51:38","date_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:51:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=904057"},"modified":"2025-03-06T15:51:43","modified_gmt":"2025-03-06T22:51:43","slug":"is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>John Mark Goodman | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/2025\/02\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-a-crook-and-a-con-man\/?utm_source=Bradley+Arant+Boult+Cummings+LLP+-+BuildSmart&amp;utm_campaign=6041dc02b1-RSS_EMAIL_CAMPAIGN&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_b504caf31b-6041dc02b1-78863422\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">BuildSmart<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Not according to a decision from a federal court in Ohio. The case involves a landscaping project at a hillside home in Cincinnati. The property overlooks the Ohio River, but like many projects that become cases, it ended up in the ditch. Dissatisfied with the progress of the work, the owner told her neighbors that the contractor was a \u201ccrook\u201d and a \u201ccon man\u201d who had photoshopped pictures of the work he had done. The case inevitably wound up in litigation with both sides suing the other for breaking their respective promises. In addition to breach of contract damages for unpaid work, the contractor also sought unspecified damages for defamation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On summary judgment, the court reviewed the elements of a defamation claim under Ohio law and concluded that many of the owner\u2019s insults did not constitute actionable defamation. For example, the court held that referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion. As to the statement that the contractor had photoshopped evidence, the court concluded that this was not a protected opinion but rather a statement of verifiable fact that could potentially constitute defamation. The court therefore allowed this portion of the contractor\u2019s defamation claim to proceed to the jury.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The court\u2019s analysis contains a helpful summary of defamation law, which construction lawyers don\u2019t come across every day. Here is the meat of that summary:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Defamation is a false publication that injures a person\u2019s reputation, exposes the person to public hatred, contempt, ridicule, shame, or disgrace, or affects the person adversely in his or her trade or business\u2026. If allegedly defamatory words are susceptible to two meanings, one defamatory and one innocent, the defamatory meaning should be rejected, and the innocent meaning adopted.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The elements of defamation are (1) a false and defamatory statement, (2) unprivileged publication to a third party, (3) a requisite amount of fault on the part of the publisher, and (4) actionability or special harm caused by the statement.&nbsp; Truth is a complete defense to a claim for defamation.\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whether an allegedly defamatory statement is protected opinion or actionable assertion of fact is a question of law for the district court. Consideration of the totality of circumstances to ascertain whether a statement is opinion or fact involves at least four factors. First is the specific language used, second is whether the statement is verifiable, third is the general context of the statement and fourth is the broader context in which the statement appeared\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Courts examining similar situations of name-calling are split as to whether such statements are defamatory or protected opinion.&nbsp; The majority position seems to be that such name-calling is not defamatory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>A copy of the court\u2019s 42-page opinion addressing these and other claims and counterclaims can be found\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.buildsmartbradley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/34\/2025\/02\/Kirkland.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Republished with permission. The article, \u201cIs It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man?\u201d was originally published on BuildSmart by Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP. Copyright 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>John Mark Goodman | BuildSmart Not according to a decision from a federal court in Ohio. The case involves a landscaping project at a hillside home in Cincinnati. The property overlooks the Ohio River, but like many projects that become cases, it ended up in the ditch. Dissatisfied with the progress of the work, the&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[9895,12,5841],"class_list":["post-904057","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-2","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction","tag-defamation","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@adviseconsult\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\"},\"headline\":\"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man?\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\"},\"wordCount\":560,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Advise &amp; Consult\",\"construction\",\"Defamation\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Construction\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\",\"name\":\"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00\",\"description\":\"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.\",\"description\":\"Construction Expert Witnesses\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Advise & Consult\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png\",\"width\":162,\"height\":75,\"caption\":\"Advise & Consult\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","og_description":"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion","og_url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/","og_site_name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","article_published_time":"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@adviseconsult","twitter_site":"@adviseconsult","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7"},"headline":"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man?","datePublished":"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/"},"wordCount":560,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"keywords":["Advise &amp; Consult","construction","Defamation"],"articleSection":["Construction"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/","name":"Is It Defamatory to Call Your Contractor a Crook and a Con Man? - Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-03-06T22:51:38+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-06T22:51:43+00:00","description":"the court held referring to the contractor as a crook and a con man was not defamatory but instead constituted the expression of an opinion","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/is-it-defamatory-to-call-your-contractor-crook-and-con-man\/"]}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","name":"Advise &amp; Consult, Inc.","description":"Construction Expert Witnesses","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Advise & Consult","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/AC-Red-Logo.png","width":162,"height":75,"caption":"Advise & Consult"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Advise-Consult-Inc-126949043996790\/","https:\/\/x.com\/adviseconsult","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company-beta\/204526\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MrConstructionExpert"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0a11abe008083d5fb19c2b0feefe7bd7","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b01e71b7acadd7657af782b7ad1a30cc?s=96&d=mm&r=pg","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.expertwitnessinconstruction.com"]}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ztG6-3Nbz","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904057","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=904057"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904057\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":904058,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/904057\/revisions\/904058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=904057"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=904057"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=904057"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}