What Can I Legally Say?

Forget my previous posting. I was assuming certain things that may not be
true.

When something like that happens, always give the supplier the benefit of
the doubt. Assume that he is just an overworked guy who is trying his best
but just can't cope.

Write him a nice letter or email and explain nicely what happenned. You may
be very pleasantly surprised by the response - particularly if others are
giving him hell when he is just trying to do his best.

If he doesn't give you satisfaction, then you can begin telling others on
the net about your bad experiences.

If you just attack him and he believes he is in the right, that is the time
you could find yourself in the middle of a serious lawsuit.

Put yourself in his shoes first.

Jim


Eric Schreiber wrote in message
...
(Nsty N8) wrote:

I received BAD service from an online plant dealer. The site was
incorrect
about what they had in stock, the plants were shipped 2 weeks late and
they
won't respond to my emails or phone calls. I also received melted plants.
What can I say or write without getting myself sued.

Unfortunately, there is very little correlation between what you can
legally say and what you can be sued for saying. Anyone with the
inclination can bring a lawsuit for just about any absurd crap. They
may not win it, but that's often not the point - their intent is more
to hassle, harass, and stifle other complaints.

My personal opinion, and I'm a hotheaded computer geek, not a lawyer,
is to say what you want, but stick very clearly to the indisputable
facts ('site said item x was in stock', 'promised shipping date was',
'actual shipping date was', 'sent email on Monday', etc). Back
everything up with documentation if you can. When you state an
opinion, be clear that it is only your opinion.

This won't protect you from some disreputable, unscrupulous person or
company suing you - nothing will if you choose to speak - but it will
make the potential cost for them higher. Their own reputation is going
to be far more damaged by bringing a lawsuit over factual comments
(see PetsWarehouse fiasco) than the comments themselves ever were, and
their chances of losing or being tossed out of court by an even
moderately intelligent judge will be higher.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"Jim Morcombe" wrote:

I'm an Australian, but I assume the same holds true in America.

Probably, but I suspect that America holds the world title for Really
Stupid Lawsuit Abuse. It's damn near the national pastime.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

Before you shoot your mouth off, take a good read at this:

http://petsforum.com/psw/

Regardless of the appropriateness of what you say, a vendor who is unhappy
with what you post can file a suit and cause you to spend money on attorney
defense. Tread carefully.

--
Bob Alston

bobalston9 AT aol DOT com

"Bob Alston" wrote:

Regardless of the appropriateness of what you say, a vendor who is unhappy
with what you post can file a suit and cause you to spend money on attorney
defense. Tread carefully.

Yes, Bob, that was kind of the gist of most of the replies in the
thread.

--
www.ericschreiber.com

On 14 Jan 2004 16:42:59 GMT, (Nsty N8) wrote:

What can I say or write without getting myself sued.

You can't say ANYTHING. In fact, you don't even need to say
anything, someone can still sue you. I could file a lawsuit against
you right now. And if I acted as my own attorney, it wouldn't cost me
very much (just the filing fees).

Anyone can sue ANYONE at ANY TIME for ANY REASON. Eventually, the
very slow wheels of justice will straighten things out, but until
then, it's a painful process.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua

I have looked at the site and at the law suits that have gone on. However,
I fail to see where the costs are involved.

It is true that lawyers have been involved and that legal fees are
horrendous. However, it is Robert Novak who is mentioned as having the
legal fees.

You don't need a lawyer to refute stupid law suits like this one. (Although
the lawyers and the LA Law shows tell you that only an idiot goes to court
without one).

Don't let lawyers scare you into treading lightly.

Just do the right thing and you are safe from law suits.

If someone does the wrong thing in business, he can't use the law to shut
you up. The court fees and the legal fees might become massive, but he will
end up paying them.

Jim



Bob Alston wrote in message
news:g5pNb.1691$AA6.763@fed1read03...



"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"Jim Morcombe" wrote:

I'm an Australian, but I assume the same holds true in America.

Probably, but I suspect that America holds the world title for Really
Stupid Lawsuit Abuse. It's damn near the national pastime.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

Before you shoot your mouth off, take a good read at this:

http://petsforum.com/psw/

Regardless of the appropriateness of what you say, a vendor who is unhappy
with what you post can file a suit and cause you to spend money on
attorney
defense. Tread carefully.

--
Bob Alston

bobalston9 AT aol DOT com

I think the final Memorandum & Order makes it quite clear that we can say
what we want to say without threat of a law suit.

The judge literally through all but one of the cases out of court and
included a few sarcastic comments.

Jim




Bob Alston wrote in message
news:g5pNb.1691$AA6.763@fed1read03...



"Eric Schreiber" wrote in message
...
"Jim Morcombe" wrote:

I'm an Australian, but I assume the same holds true in America.

Probably, but I suspect that America holds the world title for Really
Stupid Lawsuit Abuse. It's damn near the national pastime.


--
www.ericschreiber.com

Before you shoot your mouth off, take a good read at this:

http://petsforum.com/psw/

Regardless of the appropriateness of what you say, a vendor who is unhappy
with what you post can file a suit and cause you to spend money on
attorney
defense. Tread carefully.

--
Bob Alston

bobalston9 AT aol DOT com

(Nsty N8) wrote in message ...
Hello

I received BAD service from an online plant dealer. The site was incorrect
about what they had in stock, the plants were shipped 2 weeks late and they
won't respond to my emails or phone calls. I also received melted plants.

What can I say or write without getting myself sued.


N8

N8-IMO, and my son's, who is a lawyer, you can get sued for anything,
or even nothing if the other party wants to sue you, they will.
Getting justice is possible, but unfortunately slow and expensive.

As far as your dilema, it would be helpful to hear who it was, what
happened, and what attempts they made to make it right.

To assist you, you could post anonymously using Goggle, via a
throwaway email account at say yahoo, via a proxy server which is what
I'm doing for this post.

While it is possible for someone to track you down, it is very
difficult to do so when this technique is used.

BTW-was the online vendor located in a state that has a city named
Phoenix in it?

Bolbitis

Tell me who and what and I will say it !

I was in ARIZONA once, to see the GARDENS... but they were not open....

you could always, 'mask it up' a bit, so as to not 'say' anything 'not good'
about a certain 'insert company here' that you dont want to 'implicate
yourself'

just goofin'...

--
RedForeman ©®


"Bol Bitis" wrote in message
om...
(Nsty N8) wrote in message
...
Hello

I received BAD service from an online plant dealer. The site was
incorrect
about what they had in stock, the plants were shipped 2 weeks late and
they
won't respond to my emails or phone calls. I also received melted
plants.

What can I say or write without getting myself sued.


N8

N8-IMO, and my son's, who is a lawyer, you can get sued for anything,
or even nothing if the other party wants to sue you, they will.
Getting justice is possible, but unfortunately slow and expensive.

As far as your dilema, it would be helpful to hear who it was, what
happened, and what attempts they made to make it right.

To assist you, you could post anonymously using Goggle, via a
throwaway email account at say yahoo, via a proxy server which is what
I'm doing for this post.

While it is possible for someone to track you down, it is very
difficult to do so when this technique is used.

BTW-was the online vendor located in a state that has a city named
Phoenix in it?

Bolbitis

On Thu, 15 Jan 2004 16:49:10 +0800, "Jim Morcombe"
wrote:

I think the final Memorandum & Order makes it quite clear that we can say
what we want to say without threat of a law suit.

The judge literally through all but one of the cases out of court and
included a few sarcastic comments.

And it cost each of the defendant at least several thousand dollars to
get to that point. The second lawsuit started in May 2001, and the
judge hasn't even begun to evaluate if there is any merit to the case.


Chuck Gadd
http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua