If a statement has damaged your business, the single most important fact is the deadline: D.C. Code § 12–301(4) gives one year for libel and slander, the shortest period in the statute and a third of the time allowed for most business claims. Companies routinely lose viable claims by spending months on correspondence. Preserve the publication, fix the date, and take advice early.
How long is there to sue?
| Claim | Period | Section |
|---|---|---|
| Libel or slander | 1 year | § 12–301(4) |
| Injury to personal property | 3 years | § 12–301(3) |
| Simple contract | 3 years | § 12–301(7) |
| Not otherwise specially prescribed | 3 years | § 12–301(8) |
⭐ The one-year period is why defamation is the business claim most often lost to delay rather than to the merits.
What should be preserved immediately?
Before anything else: capture the publication itself, the post, review, email or broadcast, with its date and URL, and record who saw it. Statements move and are edited; the evidence of what was said and when is the case.
Where the same conduct also involves misuse of company information, the trade secret and confidentiality routes may run alongside. See trade secret misappropriation and unfair competition.
What if the statement came from a competitor?
A false statement made to damage a business may support more than one claim. Interference with contracts or prospective relations is a separate cause of action with its own elements. See tortious interference. Which theory leads is a strategic choice, and the differing limitation periods are part of that calculation.
Frequently asked questions
How long do we have to bring a defamation claim?
Does an online review restart the clock each time it is viewed?
When a claim accrues is a fact and law question that should be assessed on the specific publication. Do not assume continued availability extends the period.
Can a company be defamed?
Statements damaging a business can give rise to claims, and the same facts may support other theories such as interference. The right framing depends on what was said, to whom, and the harm.
Should we respond publicly first?
That is a strategic and legal decision to take advice on quickly, because the one-year period runs while it is being considered.
Who can be sued over a damaging statement about a business?
The person who made the statement, and in some circumstances whoever republished it. The identity of the speaker is frequently the first contested issue where the statement appeared anonymously or through a review platform.
Why does the one-year period make defamation different from other business claims?
Because it is far shorter than the rest of the section. D.C. Code § 12–301 gives three years for a simple contract and for injury to property, but only one year for libel and slander — so a claim that would still be alive as a contract dispute can already be time-barred as defamation.
Where can a speaker outside the District be sued?
Frequently still here in the District. The long-arm statute reaches a person who causes tortious injury in the District by an act committed outside it, provided that person regularly does or solicits business here, engages in a persistent course of conduct, or derives substantial revenue from goods or services used here. See D.C. Code § 13-423(a)(4).
How should the statement be preserved before anything else is done?
By capturing it in a form that shows where and when it appeared, including the surrounding page, rather than a cropped screenshot. Material published online is routinely edited or deleted once a complaint is made, and the version that existed on the day matters.
What does it cost to miss the deadline?
Missing it costs the claim entirely. Libel and slander carry one year — the shortest period in the section, shared with statutory penalties and forfeitures — running from when the right to maintain the action accrues. See D.C. Code § 12-301(4).
Sources and legal authorities
General information about D.C. law, not legal advice. Which rule applies depends on the entity, the agreement and the facts.
Related: Tortious Interference · Unfair Competition · Emergency Injunctions · Business Litigation. Call (301) 901-3109 or use the contact page.