Defamation Lawyer Defense Case | Client Charged With Defamation, Non-Prosecution

The client, a career military officer, was experiencing a dispute over a refund in the course of entrusting administrative work to an administrative affairs office.

The client attempted to make contact several times, but the administrative affairs office unilaterally ignored the client's communications.

Feeling frustrated, the client posted a comment to the effect of "I am preparing for a lawsuit" on the administrative affairs office's blog post.

However, the administrative agent's side immediately regarded this as the statement of a false fact and filed a criminal complaint on the ground that it had damaged the office's social credit.

As a result, the client unintentionally became a defamation suspect subject to investigation by the military police, and requested assistance from a defamation lawyer.

For defamation to be established, the following requirements must be met.

Defamation is subject to different levels of punishment depending on whether the publicly disclosed fact is false.

Network Act Article 70 (Penalty Provisions)

The complainant claimed that the client's comment stating ‘A lawsuit is in preparation’ lowered the credit of the office.

However, the comment in question did not contain the complainant's name, the office's name, or any specific content at all.

Accordingly, the attorney presented the argument that it did not reach the standard of a ‘disclosure of a specific fact’ and was, rather, merely an expression of opinion or in the nature of a complaint.

In fact, by submitting material showing that even a third party at the military police investigation stage could not clearly understand the meaning of the comment and reacted by asking “What does this mean?”, it was possible to demonstrate that the comment was not specific enough to directly lower the social evaluation of a particular person.

The key to establishing defamation is the ‘purpose of defaming,’ and the complainant also claimed that the client's comment was a malicious act intended to disparage the complainant.

In response, the attorney presented as material the fact that, in a situation where the complainant did not respond to the client's refund request and unilaterally cut off contact, the blog was the last channel through which the client could convey an opinion.

In addition, the attorney emphasized that this conduct was not for the purpose of insulting the other party, but was simply an act intended to announce a claim of right and to request communication.

In the course of the military police investigation as well, the client's statements and the text message conversation history were consistently confirmed, and it was demonstrated that the circumstances of writing the comment were closer to ‘an appeal of an unfair situation’ than to ‘defaming.’

The complainant claimed that, due to the comment, the office's social evaluation was substantially lowered.

In response, the attorney emphasized, pointing to the fact that the comment did not even provide information by which an unspecified number of people could identify the complainant, and the fact that even a third party who saw the comment could not grasp its meaning, that the social reputation was not substantially harmed.

Defamation cases are not determined solely by the content of a statement or post; rather, multiple factors are considered comprehensively, including whether a fact was asserted, the manner of expression, and the context.

Through its dedicated consultation attorney system, Daeryun LLC carefully identifies the facts and issues of the matter and assigns a dedicated attorney by case type to establish a response strategy tailored to the client.

When the evidence related to a case is insufficient, the collection and analysis of evidence can also be handled through coordinated collaboration with the Evidence Examination Center and the Digital Forensics Center.

If you are facing the risk of punishment on a charge of defamation, please feel free to entrust your case at any time through the 🔗Legal Consultation Reservation.