On June 16, 2025, Lee Brenner and Casie Orellana published “The Libel-Proof Plaintiff” in the Daily Journal. The following is an excerpt:
Who can’t recover for defamation even though they may have been libeled?
The libel-proof plaintiff.
The “libel-proof plaintiff” doctrine provides an independent ground for dismissing a defamation cause of action on the basis that a person with a widespread reputation for bad or dishonest behavior may not recover. Often defendants will raise this doctrine when moving to dismiss a complaint or moving for summary judgment. The underlying rationale for the application of the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine across federal and state courts to a plaintiff with a well-known “sullied reputation” is that an alleged defamatory statement pertaining to a plaintiff’s reputation, or crimes, cannot further harm such a plaintiff’s already-damaged reputation.
So how does a plaintiff become “libel-proof”?
Federal and state courts, including but not limited to those in California and New York, have applied the libel-proof plaintiff doctrine to bar defamation suits brought by plaintiffs with notorious reputations, reasoning that allegedly defamatory statements could not cause further harm to their already sullied reputations in the community. See Robert D. Sack, Sack on Defamation, §10:5.5 [B] (5th ed, 2017).
Click here for the article.