Read an article recently. Apparently if you libel a large enough number of people, none of them are considered individually damaged enough to sue. That number is probably somewhere between 50 and 100.
I think there are more southerners than that.
Was that the Eugene Volokh article about libel and UVA? I read that too and you are right. I think his example was if someone says “all lawyers are thieves” no lawyer is defamed. But if someone says “all the lawyers at XYZ firm are thieves” then you might have a case.