Ibarra is not a public figure. He is a businessman. Tito's needs to save his trash talking for his fights. Tito had to know what he was saying would be reproduced a million times on the internet, and this would eventually take away from Ibarra's income.
Not saying that dude is a quality trainer or not (I've never trained with him), but no matter how Tito feels about him, Ibarra has a right to feed his kids and not be (financially) jeopardized by Tito's obscenely giant mouth.
Just because some one is a businessman does not preclude them from being a public figure. A very good example would be Mr. Trump.
The standard that I found for a public figure is "A "general purpose public figure" is someone who enjoys social prominence." Ibarra has claimed that he is a world class trainer and makes public statements regarding his fighters. The supreme court has placed college football coaches under the public figure doctrine. This leads me to believe that Ibarra will be considered a public figure.
In many legal systems, adverse public statements about legal citizens presented as fact must be proven false to be defamatory or slanderous/libel. Proving adverse, public character statements to be true is often the best defense against a prosecution for libel and/or defamation.
I goes on to say it's not a guarantee the truth will win you the lawsuit, but if Tito shows some proof and it becomes public record, Juanito is screwed forever.
Edit: and it looks like the burden of proof is on Juanito to PROVE Tito was lying.
Last edited 6/6/09 2:19PM by manfred Edit note/reason: n/a 2 total post edits
1) I agree with what telnights said about a trainer's reputation being everything. Juanito might have had a financially unethical relationship with Rampage, but there is no denying that he helped turn his career around.
2) How in the world does he think he is going to successfully sue news media for reporting on and publishing what someone else said. You can't sue the media for printing another person's defaming comments.
_______________________________________ FREE JOSE ALDO! Flame Not, Lest Ye Be Flamed Yourself. #3 points UFC 95 #3 points WEC 43 #8 points Sengoku 5 #10 points Sengoku 12 #10 points EXC: Heat #15 wagers WEC 47 #15 points Secondary League Season 7 #18 wagers UFN: 20 #20 wagers 2nd League Season 8 #24 points UFC: Fight for the Troops #24 points DREAM 2
Good luck with that. Tito as an individual not acting as a corporate entity and with no intent of profitting from his words is protected by a little something called----the 1st amendment.
Good luck with that. Tito as an individual not acting as a corporate entity and with no intent of profitting from his words is protected by a little something called----the 1st amendment.
Not true.
_______________________________________ It's lose, not loose!
Good luck with that. Tito as an individual not acting as a corporate entity and with no intent of profitting from his words is protected by a little something called----the 1st amendment.
Not true.
Depends. The part about "intent to profit" doesn't matter at all. Slander is the act of wrongfully harming someone's reputation with one's speech. In this case the big hurdles to that are:
A) The statements must be proven to be false. Kind of hard to do because...
B) Statements of opinion are not usually subject to charges of slander. They in fact are protected by the 1st amend. Tito's statement is arguably just him giving his opinion about Juanito. It will come down to a detailed analysis of the exact verbiage of the comments. Basically, if he says "I think..." or anything like that he should be clear because...
C) Statements made about public figures are privileged speech subject to a higher degree of scrutiny. There must be proven actual malice to qualify.
On the other hand. Tito's comments could be considered slander per se because the comments claim that Juanito committed improprieties related to and while engaging in his trade... aka slander per se. If the comments are proven to be untrue, Juanito's side could claim that it was slander per se and as such the part about opinion and public figures doesn't matter.
So it will all come down to who has the better lawyer and whether Juanito can prove that the statements were false.
_______________________________________ FREE JOSE ALDO! Flame Not, Lest Ye Be Flamed Yourself. #3 points UFC 95 #3 points WEC 43 #8 points Sengoku 5 #10 points Sengoku 12 #10 points EXC: Heat #15 wagers WEC 47 #15 points Secondary League Season 7 #18 wagers UFN: 20 #20 wagers 2nd League Season 8 #24 points UFC: Fight for the Troops #24 points DREAM 2
Good luck with that. Tito as an individual not acting as a corporate entity and with no intent of profitting from his words is protected by a little something called----the 1st amendment.
Not true.
Depends. The part about "intent to profit" doesn't matter at all.
The part about being an individual doesn't matter at all either...so my statement remains the same.
_______________________________________ It's lose, not loose!
Good luck with that. Tito as an individual not acting as a corporate entity and with no intent of profitting from his words is protected by a little something called----the 1st amendment.
Not true.
Depends. The part about "intent to profit" doesn't matter at all.
The part about being an individual doesn't matter at all either...so my statement remains the same.
True... basically the only part he got right is that it may be protected speech.
_______________________________________ FREE JOSE ALDO! Flame Not, Lest Ye Be Flamed Yourself. #3 points UFC 95 #3 points WEC 43 #8 points Sengoku 5 #10 points Sengoku 12 #10 points EXC: Heat #15 wagers WEC 47 #15 points Secondary League Season 7 #18 wagers UFN: 20 #20 wagers 2nd League Season 8 #24 points UFC: Fight for the Troops #24 points DREAM 2
I looked up california law on libel and federal law and the ninth circuit court actually said that even Headlines are subject to libel suits and a person can sue ever republication of that defamation.
Since Tito's statements could affect Ibarra's ability to work, then it can have more scrutiny. HOwever, he has to prove that Tito lied about him. I'm not sure about intent. BUt it's a tough sell. One of those settle out of court things unless you have deep pockets and want to keep pursuing somtehing that you mostt likely won't win.
