VIC Thinking to sue a guy on Facebook for defamation

[Peterliu2021]

Hi, my name is Peter and I own an Asian restaurant in Melbourne’s north west, recently i had an argument with a guy on a Facebook group regarding the vaccination topic and we strongly disagree with each other’s view! Few hours later that guy posted something nasty about me , he put up a false statement staying that I operate a business without license and try to poison my customers

[Quote:” I am completely shock to find out that a guy who owns an Asian restaurant in Melbourne’s north west who operates without a license and his place is dirty as hell, he clearly has the intention to poison his customers!” end quote]

I am really upset that he publicly shaming me simply because we disagree with each other’s view , I am thinking to sue him for defamation, after some research on the internet, I found out that a court must be satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that the defendant:

1. communicated or published
2. to any third party
3. a defamatory matter
4. about, concerning or identifying a person

I also noticed that an untrue statements or imputations that do not identify a particular individual will not create a cause of action for defamation.

My question here is: is his statement contained enough information to identify me in a public group more that 10K members ? Can I consider “a guy who owns a Asian restaurant on Melbourne’s north west!” as indirect identification through the provision of other information that would cause a reasonable person to associate the material with the plaintiff.



Many thanks

 

[Ricardo]

Defamation cases can be expensive and complicated, and therefore at first glance it would be difficult to imagine that you should proceed.

In some technical respects, you are correct that the comment is 'defamatory'. There are several imputations, such as :
you operate an unlicensed restaurant
the patrons may get food poisoning

There is furthermore a likelihood that you could demonstrate malice.
However, indeed, you would have to show that you are identifiable, or that the audience could take reasonable steps to identify you, based on the information.
So really, it's a bit of a long shot to demonstrate that they can identify you (or your restaurant), and therefore that your reputation has been harmed.

Please note:
>"a company cannot sue in defamation, unless they are an “excluded corporation” which includes companies that employ fewer than 10 employees."
However, while I am not sure, here you could be saying that your personal reputation was defamed, not the business's.
In that case, you would have to demonstrate that they could identify you.
If you want to sue as the restaurant, you'd have to demonstrate that they could identify the restaurant.

Then, you'd have to try demonstrate that people read the comment and that it was published to an audience. Generally, if the post has any 'likes' or reactions or replies, the judge would usually consider that it was read by at least those people. If the Facebook Group has any 'report' function, you should consider reporting it.