"lawyer" (Possibly fake) Sent me a cease and desist order

Yeah I know its probably fake, but the question is how would hostgator handle it?

 

I worked for Hostgator as a system admin and seen this request many times before. We had someone that usually investigated the reports so it takes a little longer than normal support issues.

Usually the request was due to warez, porn or pictures of someone.

Since I didn't see the post, I am guessing that this was a review of some online stores service right, from personal experience? That usually isn't an issue. People are allowed to express criticism of service they received. Freedom of speech. You just have to make sure you don't go overboard with cuss words or anything that isn't fact in your case. That would make you liable and could get you sued.

Hostgator doesn't want to deal with legal issues because its a pain in the butt but they can tell which are bunk and which are viable.

All depends on how your post is written.

I would email and ask them what they think. Tickets are the slowest support service at Hostgator... to get things done you need to email the right person, call them or do live chat... live chat support will usually tell you to email someone because well.. chat techs don't really have knowledge of such things. Ask for the shift supervisor and get a real answer or email address of someone in legal and abuse dept.

 

Thanks for response. That is the email i used, and was put on the ticket system.

I basically labeled their products under a scam category because you could find the same products under mainstream name brand for much much cheaper prices and that they were trying to make themselves look like a steroid pharmacy by how they marketed and designed the site. Youd have to see the site to see what I mean.

 

1. I do not see where anyone is claiming to be a lawyer. It looks to me like they are sending something to YOUR legal department. Am I missing something where the sender of the email claims to be a lawyer?

By the way, the letter appears addressed to "Attn: Darren Lowery". Is that you?

2. It does not matter who sends the C & D. There is no such thing as a "fake" C & D. Any C & D should be reviewed and acted upon based on the merit, not based on who the sender was. If it has merit, your host must act upon it. If it does not have merit, having it sent by a lawyer does not give it any additional legal weight.

3. The only thing to take from it being sent by a real life lawyer is the seriousness of the offended party and a good inkling that they are going follow up and pursue their rights.

 

No Attn: Darren Lowery is the name of the supposed "Lawyer" and sender of the email. He is claiming to be a lawyer since he says "Client" to refer to his website.



I also thought that cease and desist are sent for intention and can be sent by anyone and that is why I took down the material even though I knew it probably was sent by the site owner and not a lawyer. THanks for the clarification.

 

To be honest, anything without the force of a court of law means nothing. It's a threat anybody can make.

If you're in a situation where you feel that you should remove the information, remove it. If you feel it deserves to be there but aren't sure of the legality - ask a lawyer or remove it (depending on your desire for free speech, money and confidence!). If you think its legally fine, positively think it, then leave it up.

 

The gmail address and very short wording makes it look fake to me. What exactly was in your post? Could it be considered libelous? If it could then I would stay on the side of caution and contact a lawyer about the situation, assuming you have the means to do so.

 

Its not worth the hassle of a lawyer, as mentioned this post brings little traffic so I could easily replace it with someone else. (I review sites on this site just so you know). As far as it being libelous I guess it could be taken like that although i feel what i was stating was the truth. That is the problem i don't know how Hostgator would react so I don't want to risk it even though I feel what I said was right.

 

So far this is hostgators response. I just replied to the ticket to ask another question on it cause this reply is pretty vague.


"It depends on the validity of the claim. If he did not fax or mail you the letter, and would not sign it then I suspect he was just attempting to bully you into compliance."

 

Did you use the words "in my opinion" in your post? If so you are probably protected under free speech laws, assuming you live in the USA. If you phrased it in a way as though your statements could be interpreted as fact and not a opinion it is more difficult.

 

He said "client" and that he was going to try and shut down the site. He was pretending to be a lawyer.



Anyways, I got another response back from hostgator, when I asked if they could shut it down if someone just complains of libel. Based on the answer below, it appears that it certainly is a possibility. I think it was wise I took it down because it wasn't worth the risk of the guy contacting them and having hostgator trying to look for a reason, even though I spoke the truth.


"As I stated the document itself and the claims are a large part of it. We are required to act if it is a valid legal document."

 

Lol thats a sure title to get your attention and shock you into doing something.

However it doesn't say which legal dept. Also it doesn't explain why you should get your site shut down in the title.

 

I'm 95% sure it's a fake email. Or at least it sure wasn't a lawyer that wrote that. They might be trying to bully you into compliance, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. HostGator will keep the site online unless they get a court order and I highly doubt the other party wont go that far. Even if they did, assuming the stuff on your site is accurate, you will probably come out ahead in court. Free speech and all that jazz. Best of luck.

Please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer and my post is not professional legal advice, just the opinion of one common man

 

Well like i said, traffic wise the post brings me almost nothing and I could just replace it with something else, and considering I host 17 sites on this account it would be silly to bring attention to my account when I could just remove the post in question. It pisses me off that I have to do it, but if I get another email in the future from this person(ill know by I.P and other details, etc) on something else Ill just tell him to F off the 2nd time.

 

I can't believe they would do something without real "Legal" paperwork such as a court order. I wouldn't make any of my clients remove it.. not without something more solid.

 

The letter makes no sense did they provide a phone number address or any contact expect the email?
C and D that isnt legal signed or not providing contact info should be ingnored. The letter has no legal force behind it and it sounds like hostgator is behind you to
I should know i read all of john grishams books lol

 

If he gave his first and last name, you can check with the state bar in the states where he claims (NJ or FL, I guess from the above posts) to be an attorney to see if he's an attorney in good standing. They'll tell you.

Also, your critique is not necessarily libelous. Libel is defined by the Nolo press legal dictionary as "An untruthful statement about a person, published in writing or through broadcast media, that injures the person's reputation or standing in the community." Unless the things that you say are untruthful (rather than just your opinion) they're not libel. He's just blowing hot air.

Hope that helps.

Deena Burgess, Esq.

 

I wouldn't sweat it. Now once you get that cease and desist letter in the certified mail, then you will know it's real.

 

Yeah but the fact that Hostgator says it "Depends" leaves a lot of room for error, even if im right. If you guys had 17 sites and you liked the hosting hostgator provided you would probably error on caution even if you said what was the truth. What I would really like to do is just move the site in question to a different host seperately just to put the post back up and piss off the guy LOL, but it isn't worth paying the extra 5 bucks a month just for this one site and the hassle of moving it to a different host.