Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with slander

In 1988, invented the Oscillation Overthruster while an intern for Team Banzai.

Shepherd — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:28:27 -0800

What happens if somebody lies in an obituary? I was reading up on Poe's death recently; Griswold's "obituary"/poison pen letter about the man following his death was intriguing, and I've been wondering what happens if somebody crafts an obituary that contains deliberate falsehoods, or provides the newspaper/funeral home with facts that aren't necessarily true. I'm not talking about "news obituaries," as those are obviously the work of paid newspaper staff and fall firmly under its wing. I'm wondering about the "classifieds obituaries."

This is partly legal curiosity, and partly my own desire to have an obituary that contains sentences like "in 1987, wrestled George 'the Animal' Steele at WrestleMania III in his masked identity as Doctor Resisto."

Are standard-grade obituaries fact-checked or even reviewed for ridiculous claims, or are they (in terms of the paid-per-inch details) "free space" that an author can fill as she chooses?

Who is legally responsible if an obituary contains false or even defamatory information?

Can I complain about a doctor online?

arcticwoman — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 06:45:12 -0800

I had an absolutely terrible incident with a homophobic doctor. I have taken all the steps to report him to the local College of Physicians and Surgeons, and I hope he gets disciplined, but that doesn't address the systemic problem of homophobia in family physicians in my area (and it doesn't help me find a less homophobic doctor to switch to). I would like to blog about the incident, contact gay and lesbian associations, etc, but I am worried about being sued for libel/slander/I don't know. Will I get in trouble if I write publicly about this incident? Can I use the Dr's name? I'm in Alberta, Canada.

LA Lawyer to check a gossip blog?

Anonymous — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 17:03:41 -0800

I need a lawyer in Los Angeles to look over my gossip blog, can anyone recommend someone? I recently started running an anon gossip blog that covers my industry (not entertainment). I post blind items, things I "heard", etc. I've always been very careful about what I post and how I say it, and I feel like I have a solid grasp of what's on the right side of the slander line (but doesn't everyone?). I also have a basic standard legal statement and disclaimer.

However, it's pretty clear from my stats and inbox that just about everyone in this very tight-knit industry is reading the blog, and additionally that I'm getting a lot of hits from law firms used by the very litigious main focus of the site. I haven't heard anything legal (or even negative) from anyone yet, but I expect it to come.

I want to get the blog reviewed by a lawyer with solid experience with this kind of thing, and also get some advice on protecting my sources etc. Can anyone suggest someone in LA for this? While I can probably not find the money to run things by a lawyer on a ongoing basis, I can find the money for a lawyer if I get in trouble, and I'd like to start a relationship with someone now, as well as making sure I'm on the right track with covering my ass.

Please don't say "you're so screwed", that's not a helpful answer!

Thanks.

How do I stop vicious libel?

MaxK — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 18:21:29 -0800

Canadian Libel Lawfilter: How do I send a cease & desist for libel made on the internet? A good friend of mine has been the victim of a rather vicious libel attack making claims that she downloaded the contents of a database she did not access and committed libel against the website the database belongs to. Both statements are patently untrue. I'd like to help her write a cease & desist and take other legal steps as necessary. What applicable laws should I be aware of if both parties reside in Vancouver, British Colombia? Is there a good template for writing a Canadian C&D?

This question is not based on any real concern

daksya — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 12:18:40 -0800

I just saw The Bank Job and had a question about the disclaimer at the end It says,

"This motion picture is based upon actual events and people..[snip]..Similarity of any dramatized characters, incidents.. to any actual event.. is entirely coincidental and unintentional"

The disclaimer contradicts itself. I realize that this is probably something to with libel CYA, but having just admitted that the film is "based on actual events", how can the similarity be unintentional?

What's the legal status of these disclaimers? If someone is indeed depicted libelously, what protection does it offer (in US, UK)?

What can I do about online slander?

InstantSanitizer — Fri, 23 May 2008 08:00:51 -0800

Looking for advice on a situation involving online slander (?).... My husband and I both had previous marriages, with children involved, that ended in difficult divorces. (We met after our divorces.) I co-parent my son with my ex-husband and from time to time we run into problems- I recently found a support group for divorced/ divorcing parents on the web and I asked to join in hopes of learning more about how to co-parent while still struggling with custody issues and all the things that caused the end of the marriage to begin with.

Coincidence- when I was allowed to access the site and search the posts, I discovered that one of the founding members is my husband's ex-wife. She is saying terrible, damaging things and not unoccasionally telling complete lies about my husband and posting his full name as well as his contact information. She has also posted my full name and contact information.

The members of this group are mostly from my metro area- so, it's kind of a small world. This could conceivably, at a minimum, negatively impact my husband's profession as well as mine. What else it could do- I'm afraid to speculate...

I don't know what to do, if anything. I am considering consulting a lawyer.

Thoughts?

Douche-Baggery at Work: How do we protect ourselves from future slander?

Anonymous — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 17:51:29 -0800

There's some serious douche-baggery going on at my job that cost one of my colleagues his job today. How do I protect myself? I teach at a University somewhere in America. At the beginning of this year, I took this job, and at the same time that they hired a new director. The director brought a couple of people with him (lower level staff members) who interact with students, and are generally bad medicine. Today, one of my colleagues got fired by the Provost because of lies and scandal that the Director of the program started about my colleague. He's lawyering up, and has been given until the end of today to either quit or be fired. He's obviously going to fight - but if he wins and gets to keep his job, he doesn't really "win," you know, without the support of the administration.

The level of scandal here goes deep. He's got budgets screwed up, our division is in shambles, and he shows favoritism and negative empowerment to both students and staff that are "on his side." Most of us have never been disrespected as badly as we have by this man and the people who he has wrangled up. He preys on the weak, undecided students and faculty/staff by giving them very positive praise and rewards, and then putting them together in situations where they are empowered to slander and trash-talk the rest of the people involved. It's a "Divide-and-Conquer" situation that is unacceptable in this environment, and especially in the educational arena.

Several of us have caught the Director in lies. He's very good at treating people below him like shit, and lying to upper administration to make himself look like the champ. Around Christmas of 2007, several of us were slandered by this guy at a public venue in front of students, staff, and other faculty - he has even gone so far as to scream "FUCK 'so-and-so'" in a crowded venue in an argument in front of students' parents and other patrons at an event. Our work environment has gotten very very bad, and it looks as though this guy might get to keep his job due to his manipulation of upper-level administrators, including the VP.

The major downfall of this situation is that this director is also a "professional" in the same line of business that many of us also work in. He's in the same professional union as some of us, so perhaps there is an avenue for protection there as well. The major problem is that, since this guy is a pathological liar and manipulator, he's gonna talk some shit to people we might both know, and spread more bullshit and lies about our work and our personalities. None of us are terribly worried about the damage that he's gonna try to perform, but it is a major pain in the ass (and potentially harmful to future contracts and work) if we have to explain the situation about this guy to people all of the time. He is an expert manipulator - and our colleagues, the heads of our division, and many other people directly and indirectly involved are shocked and awed at how successful he has been at getting what he wants via lies, slander, and manipulative tactics.

I have resigned my position, effective at the end of this school term. My question is about preemptive legal attack; does the Hive Mind see it beneficial for us, one by one, to contact our lawyers and have some kind of "If-I-Hear-That-You-Said-Shit-About-Me, I'll-Sue-Your-Ass-For-Slander" letters drafted? Is there such a thing, and are they effective? Is there anything else we can do to make sure that this guy keeps his lying mouth shut?

There's a chance that he will ALSO be terminated, but at this point, all bets are off. We never expected this guy's lies and manipulation of students to actually trick an administrator into firing one of the best and most influential professors/recruiters the division has ever seen. As you can imagine, this bullshit is all very, very political.

My spoof email for this question is bossdouche@gmail.com. Please drop me a line and post here if you have something that might help. Every day is another wonderfully effed up adventure.

Fired by voicemail

Mijo Bijo — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 18:23:11 -0800

I got fired via voicemail. Am I allowed to publish this voicemail to the web? Some background:

I started working as a waiter at a restaurant about 9 months ago. When I was hired, a friend of mine mentioned that somebody that I was acquainted with used to be a manager there. I was acquainted with this person because he was a regular at an establishment that I had previously worked at. Four months into working there, my boss fired the two bartenders because they started a side business that he felt conflicted with his own. I was promoted to head bartender.

My boss is very vindictive, occassionally making comments to me to the affect, "When you see the old bartender thank him for your job," and other comments. I remained friends with the old bartender and consider him to be a good friend of mine, so I was very put off by the comments. I never mentioned the former bartender because whenever the subject came up it put my boss in a foul mood and my work environment suffered because of it.

Wednesday of last week as him and I were closing the restaurant down for the night we were having a very informal chat. My boss was going on vacation to Argentina (where he's from) and was going over the things that I would have to do to pick up the slack during his absence (liquor/wine ordering, etc.) followed by us both talking about our personal lives. I made a comment that I heard that bad things have happened before he has left in the past. He looked at me puzzled and I explained to him that I heard he fired the former manager right before he left last time he went to Argentina. He asked me how I knew him, I told him he was a regular at my last job. He told me I was lying to him and f#*&ing with him. He told me I only know him because I met him through the former bartender (wholly untrue, never saw the two together in my life). I told him I wasn't, why would I do that? Calmed him down as best I could, but I had to go. Went out after work, had my cell phone charging at home so it wasn't on my person. When I came home I had a voicemail from the owner.

It turns out that the former manager is the chef for the former bartender's side business. I didn't know this, if I did I would never have mentioned his name to my boss. I'm friends with the old bartender, but I am not privy to much information about his business, nor do I inquire.

I have to file a labor board claim against him for:

1. Failure to pay overtime.
2. Working off the clock.
3. Wrongfully scheduling breaks (Come into work, forced to take a lunch break 1/2 hour later, then working for 8 hours straight.)
4. Not giving me my final check.
5. When finally getting my final check it was shorted ~12 hours.
6. Possibly wrongful termination.

I've tried to talk to my former employer but all attempts have failed, the last communication was the voicemail, except for the next day when I came in to get my final check he had an "important table, and I should understand". I waited over an hour and finally gave up on getting paid or talking to him.

I want to publish this voicemail on the web, the friends that I've played it for have all been astounded. He chuckles and refers to me being fired as "good news". I've saved it as an mp3 and edited a person's last name and the name of the establishment out of it (I don't want to give him business, any publicity is good publicity as they say). Can I legally do this? Even if I can legally do this, could this hamper my case with the labor board (I do not plan to sue him in a court, just use the administrative process). I'm in California if that makes a difference.

My sister got me fired. Now what?

Anonymous — Wed, 07 Jun 2006 14:50:03 -0800

My half-sister got me fired from 2 jobs. What do I do? My dad's ex-wife works at an agency where I was seeing a therapist for depression. The ex-wife told my half-sister that I was there and what I was there for, and broke confidentiality, so I reported her. The agency told me they could not say what they did to her (reprimand, etc).

I was nannying for 2 families (2 days a week each family), and the day after we had a huge family fight, I was fired with stupid excuses. (One woman fired me because I missed ONE DAY due to an emergency - relative in the hospital, the other, though she had hired me only 4 weeks prior, got her kids into daycare, or so she said.) The lady who fired me over the absence (and she's a work-at-home mom anyways) turned hostile. I have confirmed with a third employer that my sister called and said she should not trust me with her children. (I have passed background checks and the claims are completely baseless...she simply wants revenge for my reporting her mom.)

I've spoken to the sherriff's dept, and they said they can't do anything unless she physically threatens me. They can't even take a harassment report since she called the neighbor (my employer) and not me. The previous 2 employers - the hostile woman won't respond to my inquiries, and I haven't gotten a hold of the other yet. (Don't remember their phone number and they're unlisted, meaning I have to drive out to their house and hope to catch them at home.)

She got the phone numbers because they were hanging on our refrigerator - as for the neighbor, she simply Googled the address. The live right next door so it wasn't hard to find.

Do I (ask a lawyer to) send a cease and desist and risk making things worse, or just try to let it go? Obviously my sister and I will probably never have a relationship again, but should I worry about her doing this again, and if so what do I say to potential new employers?

Back-door references and slander

IndigoRain — Thu, 29 Sep 2005 21:43:35 -0800

What is the least expensive and easiest way to fight a slanderous bad reference, when the reference's number was not provided by me? (The employer took the "back-door reference" route.) I was hired by a woman (with her own company) 6 weeks ago. I had given her 3 references and a list of previous employers. One of the previous employers, I only listed a name for (she was an individual who hired me) and my new employer took it upon herself to find this person's phone number and call her. (Monster.com calls this "back-door references", and calls it ethically questionable.) The former employer provided a false bad reference - she had fired me for personal issues, nothing relating to how I did my job, and may I say I had nearly had enoughl - and lied and told my new employer that I was absent all the time. Despite the bad reference, I was hired anyways, and not told about the bad reference.

I had a very serious family crisis this week (which is all I told my employer - "family crisis"), and had to miss one day. My new employer fired me for missing the one day, and told me about the bad reference she had received, and that that is why I didn't get a "second chance," so to speak. One missed day (for a very real and serious reason that I could have gotten documentation for) and I'm out, and she had never indicated it was going to be her policy.

Firstly, do I have any recourse since she did go the back-door route, circumventing my provided references and choosing to call someone else? (She did get positive references from the ones I provided.)

Secondly, as for the false reference, how can I fight it? The ex-employer won't return my calls. Is there a "cease-and-desist"-type letter I can send her? How hard is it to prove she had malicious intent when she gave that reference? I'm not sure I can afford a lawyer. Obviously, I'm not even going to list her as an ex-employer anymore.

Legal issues in reviewing doctors online...

greatgefilte — Fri, 19 Aug 2005 22:11:10 -0800

A question about the legal issues involved in setting up a site similar to epinions, only for physicians rather than products... After hearing one too many horror stories about bad experiences with doctors and dentists, I'm almost tempted to follow the lead of dcdoctors and construct something of the sort for my area. No doubt there's worries of litigation, as the founder of dcdoctors was informed.

But, would the same issues of defamation and slander apply if reviews were made anonymously? Or if there were some sort of standard form one could fill out, with ratings on a number scale, ala HotorNot or RateMyProfessors?

I know you lawyers out there can't dispense advice, but your strictly theoretical musings are appreciated.

Rapist

Mach3avelli — Tue, 29 Mar 2005 13:00:55 -0800

I need help dealing with a serial rapist. In a bustling, university livejournal community, there exists an individual who preys on different people, and to my current knowledge, has raped at least three different individuals. This guy is able to hide behind shoddy investigations, apathetic law enforcement, and the victims' fear of public scrutiny.

The best that can be hoped for is calling him out on it to protect new users to the community. However, I'd like to avoid any sort of slander, as should this reach litigation, the victims would have to come out again, which is the last thing I would want for them.

So, what are some strategies I can use to inform the community of this individual's acts without worry of putting myself or the victims in the line of fire?