Final answer:
A plaintiff must meet five requirements for a legally sufficient libel case, including falsehood, presentation as fact, publication, reputational injury, and actual malice for public figures.
Step-by-step explanation:
In order to have a legally sufficient case for libel, the plaintiff must generally meet five basic requirements. These include:
- The information must be presented as a fact and not just an opinion.
- The statement must be false.
- The statement must be published or communicated to at least one other person other than the subject.
- The statement must be injurious, meaning it damages the reputation of the person or entity.
- If the subject is a public figure, they must also show that the statement was made with actual malice, either with knowledge of its falsehood or with reckless disregard for the truth, as established in New York Times v. Sullivan.
Therefore, the correct answer is (c) five.