Legal definition of 'actionable per se'

Actionable per se. Words in themselves libelous or slanderous. Knapp v. Post Printing & Publishing Co., 111 Colo. 492, 144 P.2d 981, 984. Words which law presumes must actually, proximately and necessarily damage defendant for which general damages are recoverable and whose injurious character is a fact of common notoriety, established by the general consent of men, necessarily importing damage. Actions based on such words require no proof of damages. Words actionable per se include imputation of crime, a loathsome disease, unchastity, or words affecting plaintiff's business, trade, profession, office or calling. See Libelous per se.

SOURCE: Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition


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