Yonaty v. Mincolla

Mincolla (defendant) relayed a third party's claim that Yonaty (plaintiff) was gay or bisexual to a close friend of Yonaty's girlfriend, hoping the information would reach the girlfriend; Yonaty claimed the resulting rumor caused his relationship to end. He sued for slander, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and prima facie tort; the trial court dismissed the latter two claims but let the slander claim proceed under older precedent treating false imputations of homosexuality as slander per se.

Whether a false statement that an individual is a homosexual gives rise to an action for slander per se.