• Calling your own libelous statements "alleged"?

    From micky@21:1/5 to All on Fri Nov 29 13:46:38 2024
    Can you successfully call your own libelous statments "alleged"?

    Someone on NextDoor.com has a serious tale of woe about her relationship
    with some medical clinic, and how they mistreated her** and she starts
    off the whole narrative by saying everying in it should be regarded as
    alleged. That works when one is repeating bad stuff someone else said,
    but what about your own words.

    Someone called her today and threatened her with legal action, though I
    think she is poor and judgment proof. But she is scared of it, angry,
    and continuing to make her allegations nonetheless.

    Is a disclaimer at the start enough, or need she weaken every sentence,
    or every group of sentences about one substory?

    **I don't remember much, don't know how libelous it was, because I read
    it several days ago. Tonight she just emphasized her discalimer. I
    don't think she's talked to a lawyer, nor can she afford one, and my
    guess is one would tell her to stop. Either sue or get off the pot.
    I'll see if I can find the list of allegations, but today for the first
    time ever, I emptied my email Trash all the way to the current day. I
    knew I should not have done that. One would have had the link to the
    earlier post.

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  • From Rick@21:1/5 to micky on Fri Nov 29 21:18:30 2024
    On 11/29/2024 4:46 PM, micky wrote:
    Can you successfully call your own libelous statments "alleged"?

    Someone on NextDoor.com has a serious tale of woe about her relationship
    with some medical clinic, and how they mistreated her** and she starts
    off the whole narrative by saying everying in it should be regarded as alleged. That works when one is repeating bad stuff someone else said,
    but what about your own words.

    Someone called her today and threatened her with legal action, though I
    think she is poor and judgment proof. But she is scared of it, angry,
    and continuing to make her allegations nonetheless.

    Is a disclaimer at the start enough, or need she weaken every sentence,
    or every group of sentences about one substory?

    **I don't remember much, don't know how libelous it was, because I read
    it several days ago. Tonight she just emphasized her discalimer. I
    don't think she's talked to a lawyer, nor can she afford one, and my
    guess is one would tell her to stop. Either sue or get off the pot.
    I'll see if I can find the list of allegations, but today for the first
    time ever, I emptied my email Trash all the way to the current day. I
    knew I should not have done that. One would have had the link to the
    earlier post.


    Not sure what she’s going for here. Every time you make an unproven statement about someone or some company, you are making an allegation.
    Is she thinking that by admitting she is making an unproven statement
    and labeling it as such that she is therefore protected from liability
    if one of her statements turns out to be libelous? In other words, if
    she says something like: “I am alleging that you are a sexual predator
    but I have no proof” and her statement is totally false, she is somehow
    free from liability?

    I would say circle false on that.

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  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Rick on Sat Nov 30 09:11:00 2024
    On Fri, 29 Nov 2024 21:18:30 -0800, Rick wrote:

    On 11/29/2024 4:46 PM, micky wrote:
    Can you successfully call your own libelous statments "alleged"?

    Someone on NextDoor.com has a serious tale of woe about her
    relationship with some medical clinic, and how they mistreated her**
    and she starts off the whole narrative by saying everying in it should
    be regarded as alleged. That works when one is repeating bad stuff
    someone else said, but what about your own words.

    Someone called her today and threatened her with legal action, though I
    think she is poor and judgment proof. But she is scared of it, angry,
    and continuing to make her allegations nonetheless.

    Is a disclaimer at the start enough, or need she weaken every sentence,
    or every group of sentences about one substory?

    **I don't remember much, don't know how libelous it was, because I read
    it several days ago. Tonight she just emphasized her discalimer. I
    don't think she's talked to a lawyer, nor can she afford one, and my
    guess is one would tell her to stop. Either sue or get off the pot.
    I'll see if I can find the list of allegations, but today for the first
    time ever, I emptied my email Trash all the way to the current day. I
    knew I should not have done that. One would have had the link to the
    earlier post.


    Not sure what she’s going for here. Every time you make an unproven statement about someone or some company, you are making an allegation.
    Is she thinking that by admitting she is making an unproven statement
    and labeling it as such that she is therefore protected from liability
    if one of her statements turns out to be libelous? In other words, if
    she says something like: “I am alleging that you are a sexual predator
    but I have no proof” and her statement is totally false, she is somehow free from liability?

    I would say circle false on that.

    It is a long running gag on the BBC topical news quiz "Have I Got News
    For You" that preceding a scurrilous statement with "alleged(ly)" (or
    appending it to such) is somehow enough to ward off the evil eye of
    slander. It has been regularly debunked. Given a regular participant is "Britains most sued man" as editor of the niche organ "Private Eye" he
    should know a thing or two about it.

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  • From John Levine@21:1/5 to All on Sat Nov 30 10:58:03 2024
    According to micky <[email protected]>:
    Can you successfully call your own libelous statments "alleged"?

    I think someone has been watching too many TV cop shows.

    The point of "alleged" in news reporting is to remind the reader that the reporter is passing along a statement someone else made. That obviously doesn't work on your own statements.

    In the US the main defenses to a claim of libel are that the statements are substantially true, or that they are self-evidently opinions. Unfortunately, a judge has to decide that and just getting in and out of court can be crushingly expensive. The reason there are SLAPP laws is exactly this, to provide a fast relatively inexpensive path to dismiss suits where the plantif would lose anyway.

    On the third hand, I do not understand why doctors sue patients who say bad things about them. Regardless of the merits of what she says, why would I want to go to a doctor who might sue me? The sensible response is "While we strongly disagree with what she said, we are sorry that she was unhappy with our practice
    and we will try to work out something privately."

    --
    Regards,
    John Levine, [email protected], Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
    Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

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  • From Stuart O. Bronstein@21:1/5 to John Levine on Sat Nov 30 15:16:07 2024
    "John Levine" <[email protected]> wrote:

    On the third hand, I do not understand why doctors sue patients who
    say bad things about them. Regardless of the merits of what she says,
    why would I want to go to a doctor who might sue me? The sensible
    response is "While we strongly disagree with what she said, we are
    sorry that she was unhappy with our practice and we will try to work
    out something privately."

    People are much less likely to sue people they personally like,
    irrespective of the merits. I was acquainted with two hand surgeons, both
    with the same skill level and amount of experience. One (who often acted
    like an ass) got sued frequently. The other, a very pleasant and friendly
    guy, never was sued.

    --
    Stu
    http://DownToEarthLawyer.com

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