injurious falsehood
Injurious Falsehood
A fallacious statement that causes intentional damage to an individual's commercial or economic relations.
Any type of defamatory remark, either written or spoken, that causes pecuniary loss to an individual through disparagement of a particular business dealing.
For example, the early cases on injurious falsehood involved oral aspersions cast upon an individual's ownership of land, which prevented the individual from leasing or selling it. This tort has also been called disparagement of property, slander of goods, and trade libel.
Injurious falsehood is distinguishable from the more general harm to reputation in Libel and Slander.