The Virginia Defamation Law Blog
Few workplace experiences are more demoralizing than being unfairly blamed by a superior for a mistake that was not one’s own, particularly when the error in fact originated with the supervisor. The injustice becomes especially acute when the supervisor or the employer has ready access to the media and the capacity to shape public perception through official press releases. When that power is misused to shift blame and to publicly impugn the competence or character of a subordinate, the reputational damage can be severe. If a press release contains a false statement that tends to lower an employee in the estimation of the community or deter others from associating with him, defamation liability may arise.
The Western District of Virginia recently faced such a situation and decided the plaintiff had alleged sufficient facts on his defamation claim to survive a motion to dismiss. The facts of Jacob T. Unger v. Timothy C. Carter are essentially as follows, as laid out in the opinion (and derived from the allegations in the complaint).