QUESTION
Does the order of the hyphenated last name of a person matter on legal documents pertains to the same court case?
Asked on Apr 11th, 2018 on Civil Litigation - Maryland
More details to this question:
I gave a statement to an investigator who was looking into an insurance fraud case. I had seen the person being investigated working as a housekeeper (not for me) when she was claiming she was injured and unable to even walk unassisted, etc.. When the investigatior used the named the person whose actions I was describing, and as the name appears in the interview transcript, the last name was hyphenated in a particular order - like Aa-Bb. Aa-Bb and her attorney are now suing me (and another person too) for Defamation. On the summons her hyphenated name is reversed. It is now Bb-Aa. I do not know her by that order. Is that a technical point I can use in my defense or not?
1 ANSWER
The order doesn't matter as long as the person can be identified. In other words, unless you are claiming (a) that you were speaking aobut another person not the person who is suing you; or (b) that nobody would have realized that you were speaking about the person suing you because you used the name in a different order, it doesn't matter. The good news is that truth is an absolute defense to any defamation claim. Moreover, if your statements were given in the context of a lawsuit, I believe (assuming that Maryland law is like New York's in this regard) that they would be privileged.
Answered on Apr 12th, 2018 at 2:35 PM