Who may bring a defamation action ?
A. At common law, defamation actions may be bought by individuals, companies, partnerships and registered trade unions. Local government bodies and un-incorporated associations have no right or standing to sue for defamation of the body or the association as a whole although an individual member may be able to bring an individual action. A company may sue in respect of defamatory matter which inpunes its business reputation but not in respect of matters which impute action of which it is incapable. An example would be murder or suffering as a result of a corporate activity. At common law and now under the uniform national defamation laws, where a dead person is defamed, no action exists by his or her estate or at the suit of his friends or relatives who may have been distressed by the defamation. If, however, the defamatory statement of the dead person also defamed a living person, that living person may bring an action in respect of the injury to his or her reputation. However, where
