Can I sue a city paper (news paper) for giving the wrong information about me.?

Question

my brother is locked up and they put his name in the news paper and the mentioned that he is the cousin of 2 other person that are convicted for 2nd degree murder, and we are not related to them. can we sue the paper?

Answer 1

Probably NOT

What they "might" do is issue a retraction or a correction on a back page where no one will see it

Answer 2

Seek legal counsel - they will know what you can or cannot do in your particular state or province.  

The cheapest and most adult way  is to post your complaint directly to the editor via the Letters To The Editor - arrange a meeting with him/her and present your point of view and evidence and encourage them to print it and accept an public apology.

Answer 3

The direct answer, of course, is to seek legal counsel.

Without reading the article I cannot judge just how your incarcerated brother might have been damaged by being identified as the cousin of two people convicted of murder.

To sue for libel, your brother would have to show the statement was false and caused him damage.  

Newspapers normally report what reporters have observed and what other people say.  In your case, I would guess the statement about being a cousin was made by police, prosecutor, or someone else in authority.

If this statement about your brother came from court testimony -- for example at arraignment or a bail hearing -- then you cannot sue for libel.  This testimony -- even though possibly false -- is considered privileged information and the reporter and news organization cannot be sued.

Reporters should be doing their best to tell the truth, but sometimes sources are not always accurate.  

Without reading the news article, I cannot understand how this might have been a case of wrong information about you being published.  Seems to me the cousin reference was probably made about your brother and not you.

A few of the respondents have mentioned a retraction, correction or errata entry -- these are all mitigating factors and do not eliminate the libel.  

I hope this answer helps you.

Answer 4

Since when did the media get anything right?  Just contact them and have a retraction printed.  If they do not correct any inaccurate information, seek legal counsel.

Answer 5

They should publish an apology.

Answer 6

You can sue but you probably need to find from a lawyer about what would be the chances you would win and how much you can ask $

Answer 7

Seek legal advice. The newspaper company would probably write an erratum/errata regarding the incident. They usually write it in those back pages...