Sometimes in a defamation case a dollar is in fact awarded. In a law suit you have to prove all of the elements of the claim. One such element is in fact damages. Contrary to what many believe, you don't just get to make up a magical number that "sounds good." You have to actually PROVE your amount of damages (hypothetical example: someone doesn't get a particular job because someone else maliciously spread a false rumor about them; perhaps they could recover the annual salary of the job as damages if they could prove that they would have gotten the job but for the defamation).
(At least this is how it all works in the US where we're all in fact stupid and inferior to the rest of the world
).
Did you not vehemently deny being a lawyer? Watch yourself, hon, internet nowadays can pass odors too…All one needs a broad band and some analytical narrowing down…
...lawyers are allegedly good at. Cheers, Cgirl.
If the Judge was really ****** off that his time was wasted, he could have simply thrown the case out. Instead, he made sure the win went down in the books, even though there wasn't much proved in the way of damages. (At least, under American law anyway.)
It is entirely plausible to be defamed but not have incurred much in the way of damages. To prove a point and give you a judgment on the books in your favor, you win . . . oh . . . say . . . a dollar. If you weren't awarded at least a dollar then you wouldn't have established the element of damages, which is required to win you case. So, an award of a dollar goes down in the books as a win, and is actually going out of the way to make it clear that the other party wronged you.
So, I respectfully disagree with your statement. Though, like you, I'm just a stupid American and as such, know nothing about the superior Belgian law. Well, and as a dumb American, I don't know much about American law either, but I DO know about Shateland ponies dammit.
Addendum: so, although I see WBT's point about one difference between American law and Euro law, I don't really think it's germaine to this discussion. In American courts, you still must prove damages for a defamation claim.
