Food for Thought article found at:
http://www.wired.com/news/business/0,1367,50548,00.html

Expands a tad on the lawsuits going around against people who will "flame" or otherwise insult a company on forums such as these...

Dan Whatley has a few words of advice for those inclined to flame the CEO of an unpopular company. Dan lost a $450,000 defamation lawsuit for statements he made on a message forum about another company ....... The difference between defamation and a critical opinion is the specificity of the statement, Levy said. He cited one case in which the defendant, who lost the case, falsely accused a corporate executive of conducting medical experiments for Nazis.

"If you go overboard, they're going to come after you," Levy said. "At a certain level, libel law plays a role and has value."

To protect themselves from litigation, Goldowitz recommends posters be able to back up their online statements with evidence. He also recommends regular posters sign up for "personal injury" coverage option offered with most homeowner insurance policies. It covers legal costs if the policyholder is sued for defamation. It's Fact vs. Opinion, and in these cases it seems extremely important to make good use of "I" statements...

Rather than saying "xyz is a company that..." you'll want to use statements such as...

I feel xyz is a company that...

In MY OPINION xyz is a company that...

To ME it's as if....

Etc.. Etc....

And of course... for the others reading your posts, as well as a form of protection, have some solid evidence to back up your claims...

It's my opinion, that's something everyone could learn from.

Thanks, Deb. ;)

This thing sounds a little fishy to me.. He supposedly received notice of the hearing via certified mail but he claims he never got it. Somebody signed for it if indeed it was sent certified mail.

The next thing that comes to mind is, freedom of speech. If I can not openly speak about an a experience, whether good or bad, that I had with a specific company then this world is really going to h@ll in a hand bag quick. This is a prime example of how everyone is sue happy now a days.. It's obvious from the article that the company wasn't doing real well so they decide to sue someone to further their advance.. Sounds like a good idea to me.. :angry:

As long as their is justification for the allegations made publicly then there would be a very hard time trying to win a case like this for the company accused. In this particular case it was a one sided story so there was no facts really given.

Imagine how many people would be listed if Chris Faulkner would ever decide to do something like this here???

Pretty soon we will all be issued cue cards with numerous responses to numerous questions that we will have to use just so some sue happy person doesn't have grounds to take you to court..

Please note the above is my personal opinion. If it offends, upsets or insults you in anyway shape or form, just sue me :D

Thanks for the posting a link to this article Deb!

Originally posted by Deb
Dan lost a $450,000 defamation lawsuit for statements he made on a message forum about another company .......
Note that Dan didn't exactly lose the case, per se...

"With only one side at the hearing, a judge awarded the company a $450,000 default judgment -- a legal term for victory by forfeit."

Once again I am glad I do not live in the USA :rolleyes:

Interesting post, but that was a very confusing thread title.

In MY opinion suing is a kind of passion in USA. I don't know because I don't live here, in India if you want to sue some one in court you need to wait for 30 - 40 years. :D

oh, man, I wish if I could have been in U.S. I must have sued that jerk who screwed my car. ;)

i think it is not good to take away freedom of people to write, speech and pass comments or share personal openions about company.

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NOTICE: All words posted in above post express my opinions and my thoughts about this particular thread. In no way these are directed to harm reputation of any company or individual. :stickout

This is hardly a freedom of speech issue -- it's talking about unless you are being truthful (and can prove you are) and that you're not just defaming someone or some company to ruin their reputation. Lying and knowing it, in an effort to make people look bad by some supposed damaging way, is not freedom of speech and there's no basis for that argument. Freedom of speech does not entitle people to do whatever the heck they want, and for a reason. Nothing's stopping you from posting facts and you don't have to say that you "think" or it is your "opinion" either. You do though, if you don't have facts, because then it is just your theory or opinion (for example, if it is (a theory, opinion), you say it is -- otherwise you are claiming it's fact by not saying it and you better have proof if it comes up) -- it's correct and there's no reason to complain about not being able to blatantly lie to damage someone's reputation, simply because you can -- but you can't, for a reason. It's pretty simple.

Originally posted by Tim_Greer
This is hardly a freedom of speech issue -- it's talking about unless you are being truthful (and can prove you are) and that you're not just defaming someone or some company to ruin their reputation. Lying and knowing it, in an effort to make people look bad by some supposed damaging way, is not freedom of speech and there's no basis for that argument. Freedom of speech does not entitle people to do whatever the heck they want, and for a reason. Nothing's stopping you from posting facts and you don't have to say that you "think" or it is your "opinion" either. You do though, if you don't have facts, because then it is just your theory or opinion (for example, if it is (a theory, opinion), you say it is -- otherwise you are claiming it's fact by not saying it and you better have proof if it comes up) -- it's correct and there's no reason to complain about not being able to blatantly lie to damage someone's reputation, simply because you can -- but you can't, for a reason. It's pretty simple.

:agree: