Actionable Per Se

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ACTIONABLE PER SE

Legally sufficient to support a lawsuit in itself.

Words are actionable per se if they are obviously insulting and injurious to one's reputation. In lawsuits for libel or slander, words that impute the commission of a crime, a loathsome disease, or unchastity, or remarks that affect the plaintiff's business, trade, profession, calling, or office may be actionable per se. No special proof of actual harm done by the words is necessary to win monetary damages when words are actionable per se.