Defamation and Legal Proceedings: Maryland's Absolute Litigation Privilege
The Court process is contentious. This stated, you cannot sue people for defamation because they testify in Court in a manner you believe is false. Likewise, someone cannot be sued for defamation because they have stated something disparaging, alleged to be false, in a legal correspondence or court filing, due to Maryland's absolute Litigation Privilege.
The purpose of the privilege is to protect court proceedings and third party witnesses from retaliatory defamation claims because, inevitably, a court dispute involves two sides, maybe heated sides, who see things differently. One might even contend the other side is lying. However, they cannot be sued for defamation even so. See generally Day v. Johns Hopkins Health Sys. Corp., 907 F.3d 766 (4th Cir. 2018),
In Day v. Johns Hopkins Health Sys. Corp., the Fourth Circuit held that an expert witness who had falsely testified in a successful scheme to sell his services to 'help kill cases' on behalf of large mining corporates, nevertheless, could not be sued for defamation, applying Maryland's absolute Litigation Privilege. even though his fraud was discovered and his expert testimony was found to be false lies. As the Fourth Circuit noted, someone who testifies with knowing falsity under oath can be charged with the crime of perjury. However, they cannot be sued for defamation. 907 F.3d 766 (4th Cir. 2018).
Maryland's absolute litigation privilege also shields negotiation letters related to litigation and other litigation correspondence from defamation claims; the privilege also shields court filings. See Norman v. Borison, 418 Md. 630, 658 (2011); Mixter v. Farmer, 215 Md. App. 536, 543 (2013) ("an absolute privilege for attorneys to make potentially defamatory statements if the statements have some rational relationship to the judicial proceedings.").
People can contact Mosson Law, LLC, about defamation matters concerning statements online and made in non-court writings as well as verbally. Likewise, defamation can occur via statements in social media groups. The list goes on, especially as technology changes. The firm has handled more than one YouTube related disputes in 2025.
People sometimes seek to pursue defamation about protective order disputes, where of course, they contend the other side lied. It may be so, but that other side cannot be pursued via defamation, due to Maryland's absolute Litigation Privilege, if the alleged lies occurred as court testimony, or in a court filing. A protective order also is a court procedure shielded from defamation claims due to this privilege.
For more on Maryland's absolute Litigation Privilege, I wrote on article on it, see here: LINK: https://assets-powerstores-
Gregg H. Mosson, Esq.
Mosson Law, LLC
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