Reputation is one of the most valuable assets a person or business possesses. When false statements threaten a livelihood, a career, or standing within the community, the consequences can be devastating — and lasting. We represent clients on both sides of these disputes. For those who have been defamed — professionals facing baseless public accusations, businesses targeted by bad-faith campaigns, or individuals whose character has been unfairly attacked — we bring an aggressive, strategic response aimed at holding the responsible parties accountable. We also defend clients who have been wrongly accused of defamation, often by parties seeking to use the threat of litigation to silence or discredit truthful speech. In both roles, our goal is the same: to protect our clients’ reputations and their right to speak freely, without fear of either false statements or baseless legal threats.
Ford O’Brien Landy LLP has extensive experience prosecuting and defending high-stakes defamation claims on behalf of individuals and businesses. We bring the same tenacity and creativity to these matters that has defined our work across all of our practice areas.
The firm has handled some of the most prominent defamation cases in the country. We represent Dr. William Husel in his landmark defamation action against Mount Carmel Health System, Trinity Health Corporation, and a former hospital executive — a case that attracted international attention and which we took to trial in Franklin County, Ohio. Dr. Husel was falsely accused of murdering twenty-five patients and acquitted of all charges at a criminal trial. He turned to Ford O’Brien Landy LLP to hold accountable the institutions whose actions gave rise to those devastating, and false, allegations. That matter is currently pending before the Ohio Court of Appeals.
In a related matter, we represented nine of the healthcare professionals who worked with Dr. Husel (eight nurses and a pharmacist) and who the hospital defendants also defamed. That case was successfully settled in fall 2026.
We have also pursued defamation and related claims against those who use public platforms to spread false and damaging information for personal gain, including litigation against prolific short sellers whose campaigns of disinformation have caused significant harm to our clients’ businesses and reputations.
These matters reflect the kind of work we do every day — standing up for clients who have been wrongly accused, publicly maligned, or unfairly targeted.
Defamation litigation is only one component of protecting and restoring a client’s reputation. Our clients’ reputational concerns do not end when a verdict is reached or a settlement is signed. As a firm that regularly represents individuals in white-collar criminal, regulatory, and civil matters, we are uniquely positioned to help clients manage and rehabilitate their reputations throughout the lifecycle of a case and beyond — addressing public perception with the same rigor we bring to the legal proceedings themselves.
We represent a number of individuals who were former students and members of the Chi Phi Fraternity at Cornell University who were falsely accused of being on the Snapchat group chat relevant to the allegations made by Jane Doe. The Firm has successfully had their names removed from websites and social media posts that falsely implicated them.
Our defamation and reputation management practice encompasses a broad range of matters, including:
Contact us to learn how we can help.
Defamation is a false statement of fact, communicated to someone else, that damages a person’s or business’s reputation. Written statements are generally called libel, and spoken statements slander. Truth is a complete defense, and statements of pure opinion are generally protected, so whether a statement is actionable often turns on its precise wording and the context in which it was made. The law also treats speakers and subjects differently: public figures, for example, must meet a higher standard by proving the statement was made with knowledge of its falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Ford O’Brien Landy has represented both those who allege they were defamed and those accused of making defamatory statements, giving us a practical understanding of how these claims are built and how they are defended.
A defamation claim is one tool for protecting a reputation, but it is not the only one, and the legal and reputational dimensions of a dispute are closely intertwined. Even when statements may not support a lawsuit, there are often effective ways to respond. Depending on the circumstances, options may include a demand letter seeking a correction or retraction, requests to remove content from websites or platforms, negotiated resolutions, and, where the law supports it, a lawsuit seeking damages. The right approach depends on the source and reach of the statements, the strength of any legal claims, and the client’s goals, including the risk that litigation may draw further attention to the statements themselves. Timing matters as well: in New York, defamation claims generally must be brought within one year of publication. The Firm works with clients to develop a strategy that protects their reputation without creating new risks.
Yes. The same legal standards apply to statements made online, including posts, reviews, comments, and articles, and online cases often present additional challenges. When statements are posted anonymously, a plaintiff may need court-ordered subpoenas to identify the author. Federal law generally shields websites and platforms from liability for content posted by their users, so claims typically must be pursued against the individual who made the statement. For those accused of online defamation, defenses may include truth, the protection afforded to opinion, and, for speech on matters of public interest, New York’s anti-SLAPP law, which can lead to early dismissal and an award of attorneys’ fees. Ford O’Brien Landy represents both those harmed by online statements and those sued over them, and we pursue the most effective path forward for each client.
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