Some lies hurt feelings. Others cost you a job, a client or a license. When someone tells your employer you stole, tells your clients you are under investigation, or tells a board you faked a credential, New York treats it as one of the most serious kinds of defamation, and you have more leverage than you may think.
Ordinarily, a person suing over spoken words must prove a specific financial loss. New York sets that requirement aside for a short list of statements so likely to cause harm that damage is presumed, and one of them is a false statement that injures you in your trade, business or profession (Liberman v. Gelstein, 80 N.Y.2d 429 (1992)). "She embezzled from her last firm." "He isn't really licensed." "They're about to lose their contractor's license." Each, if false, is defamation per se. You do not have to show the lost client first.
Criticism of your work, however harsh, is usually opinion: "he's a terrible manager," "her designs are dated." Truth is a complete defense. And some statements carry a privilege. An honest job reference, or a complaint made in good faith to a regulator, is protected unless the speaker knew it was false or acted out of malice. That is why the details matter before any letter goes out.
The exact words. Who said them, to whom, and when. If they were written, in an email to your boss, a message to a client or a post, save it with the date and the recipient. If they were spoken, ask the person who heard them to write down what was said while it is fresh. Then note what followed: a client who cancelled, a meeting that went cold, a suspension. You may not need proof of loss, but it changes what the case is worth.
A cease and desist from counsel quotes each statement, says why it is false, and names the category that presumes damages. It demands that the speaker stop, retract the statement to the people who heard it, and preserve every message and document about it. Sent to a former colleague, a competitor or an ex-business partner, it lands harder than anything you could write yourself, because it shows you know exactly what was said and to whom.
One year from the statement (CPLR 215(3)). The letter does not stop it. If the lie is months old, act this week; the limitations checker gives you the date.
If the lie already cost you a job or a contract, or the speaker is going after your clients on purpose, the claim may be worth more than a letter can capture and may reach beyond defamation. That is a conversation with the attorney, not a flat-fee product; book one here. Otherwise the defamation cease and desist is $499 flat, drafted and signed by a New York attorney and sent within 48 hours. More on the cease and desist page.
It can be, when the statement is a false fact rather than an opinion. Complaints made inside a workplace can carry a qualified privilege, which falls away if the speaker knew the statement was false or acted out of malice.
Not when the false statement injures you in your trade, business or profession. New York presumes damages for that category.
Honest references are privileged. A reference that states facts the employer knows are false can lose that protection.
One year from the statement under CPLR 215(3). A cease and desist letter does not extend it.