Question

A man working at a clothing store discovered that his girlfriend, a coworker, had been taking money from the cash register. Not wanting to be a party to the situation, he ended the relationship and found another job. Not long after this, the man's new boss, who knew why the man had quit, came into the clothing store. He asked the girlfriend if she missed her boyfriend working with her at the store. She replied, "Yes, but when we found that he was stealing from the cash register, we had no choice but to let him go." If the man sues his former girlfriend for defamation, the fact that the new boss knew the truth of why the man had left his job at the store will have what result?

Answer 1

The alternatives to this question are:

A. It will act as a complete defense to an action for defamation.

B. It will establish that the man has not suffered any actual injury.

C. It may diminish the damages that the man would be entitled to recover.

D. It proves that the girlfriend had no reasonable ground for believing that the man was fired for dishonesty.

The correct answer is the letter C.

In the case that the man sues his former girlfriend this would not really indicate a complete defense but would help him diminish the damages that he would entitle to recover.