§ 73.055.Request for Correction, Clarification, or Retraction

The operative requirement of the Defamation Mitigation Act, with two distinct deadlines.

A person may maintain an action for defamation only if they have made a timely and sufficient request for a correction, clarification, or retraction, or the defendant has made one.

A request is timely if made during the limitations period — so as to the right to sue at all, the request deadline is the same as the filing deadline.

The 90-day rule is separate and far shorter. If the person does not request a correction within 90 days after receiving knowledge of the publication, they may not recover exemplary damages. The claim survives; the punitive component does not.

Five requirements make a request sufficient. It must be served on the publisher; be in writing, reasonably identify the person making it, and be signed by the individual claiming to have been defamed or their authorized attorney or agent; state with particularity the statement alleged to be false and defamatory and, to the extent known, the time and place of publication; allege the defamatory meaning of the statement; and specify the circumstances causing a defamatory meaning if it arises from something other than the express language.

The fourth and fifth requirements are the ones most often missed. A request must say what the statement means that is defamatory, and where the meaning depends on context, must supply that context. Identifying the false sentence is not enough.

Subsection (e) tolls limitations during the periods allowed for disclosure of evidence of falsity and for making the correction.