: Can a Town/City Sue an Author for a Bad Portrayal in Fiction? Lets say we choose a random town off of google maps on which to base a story where the local authorities (we won't say police,

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As one of the other answers says, anybody can sue anybody else for anything at anytime, in the USA as well as a lot of other jurisdictions. However getting a positive verdict is another thing.
In the Netherlands 10 year ago a group of inhabitants actually pressed charges against a writer for slander because he wrote unfavourable about their city. However the case was ultimately dismissed by the prosecution. flevopost.nl/artikel/111837/van-casteren-verdachte-van-smaad.html?harvest_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

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I am not a lawyer, so this is from a writer's, not legal point of view.

As it were, anyone can sue anybody for anything at any time. So the issue is, how have people minimized the possibility of this happening (and worse, losing)

One form of "protection" that has been used by some authors and publishers is to slightly "misspell" the place in question. For instance, if something supposedly took place on the Brooklyn Bridge, you'd make it the BrookLINE Bridge.

Another example was when "Don" (Dan) Rather announced the fictitious start of World War III (as part of the plot). The reason for misspelling his name was to communicate the idea of "nationally known newscaster," not the actual person.

What you are doing here is creating a "parallel" universe. Perhaps the classic example was "The Wizard of Oz." (U.S.).

By using a slight misspelling, you are alluding to the place of your choice (for fictitious purposes), but disclaiming that the fictitious events in your book actually took place there.

Also, the slight misspelling weakens the party's "standing" to sue (unless the similarities are so strong that the name change is effectively overridden). Brookline bridge? Not the same as Brooklyn Bridge. Don Rather? No, your name is Dan.

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Only people can be libelled or slandered. Places cannot.

Provided that you do not write in a way whereby specific public officials could make a case that you are attacking their personal behaviour and reputations, then whatever you think about a place is your own business.

In most western-type jurisdictions, the dead cannot be libelled (that is certainly the case here in the UK which has some of the strictest libel laws around).

The above all assumes you live in a law-abiding country rather than a dictatorship. In those places, all bets are off.

Finally: just because you cannot libel or slander a city doesn't mean that those who operate that city won't get angry. You are not guaranteed a peaceful life if you slag off somewhere that people care about even if they have no direct recourse to the law!

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