Can an person be sued for libel by a second party who is insulted in a personal letter from the first party?

Actually, the second party forwarded the first party's email to the third party and the third party is threating to sue the first party for libel and slander. This was a private email from the first party to the second party. The first party stated that a friend was screwed over by the third party in the letter to the second party. Can the first party be sued for libel even though this was a private letter? This was email was not made public by the first party. Please help.

Can an person be sued for libel by a second party who is insulted in a personal letter from the first party?
No, because, by this point, it is hearsay. It is not possible to prove that the first party actually wrote the first e-mail (despite what the letter may say about senders and such). The original could have been altered by the second party. Unless there is primary source proof against the first party, the third party cannot sue and win.
Reply:Kind of hard to follow what you are trying to say, but libel consists of one person telling a second person a false and scandalous statement about a third person. Thus a newspaper publisher who sends me a paper claiming that someone else is a drug dealer, when it is not true, would allow the person who was mentioned to sue the newspaper for making their false statements to me, but about the dealer
Reply:The concept of libel involves damage to ones public reputation; or financial loss. Further, the requirements for proving libel to a "public personality" (radio, tv, movie, music, politics) are much harder to prove than for a person in private life.





Libel? Maybe! But a court would probably tell you to get lost before they would hear this case.
Reply:Only if the third party suffered actual damages because of the email.