I have a vendor that threatening legal action because a member posted a negative review about them. the other members chimed in that they had a bad experience also, but most the other members rave about them. they admit to getting 60% of their web traffic from us and a bunch of business. i strongly believe as a forum owner it is not my place to mediate these types of "he said/she said" disputes. i have an internet attorney but really do not want to spend unnecessary $$ on this issue. WWYD? any advice?
Threatening is different from actually suing. You may want to post a disclaimer at your forum. IMHO wait for his attorney's letter before deciding on the next course of action.
I feel that this is as good as can be. Let the vendor decide if he wants to embroil himself in a legal suit that is frankly speaking just fattening his attorney's pockets. Worse come just delete the posts. But I would only do so as a last resort. If you are to remove every post to satisfy the whims of every vendor, there is nothing left in the forums and the vendors will feel that you can be easily manipulated. Do keep a reasonable stance.
that is how i feel. we get 1000-1500 new posts a day and i really do not want to mediate these situations or even hear/read about them. i am busy enough just handling the technical/admin part. i am thinking of removing ALL posts about them. they get most of their business from my site so it is really stupid of them to make such a stink. do you think i should just remove all posts about them? or leave all posts up?
I guess since they derive their business from your site, just drop them a nice email saying you can't be the mediator and will proceed to delete every post of them. See what is their response . The Art of War states the Supreme victory is winning without even fighting the war. Sometimes a bit of arm twisting helps.
You mean the vendor in question actually admitted that to you? Although I'm not a lawyer, I rather think that can be used against them if they sue you. If you don't do what they say and they finally sue, they have to demonstrate damages. They could do that to force you to pay costs to defend yourself in court, unless you risk not showing up and possibly getting a default judgment against you. Seriously, you should be asking your lawyer. If s/he's not really that intimately familiar with this sort of thing, maybe ask him/her for referrals if any. Good luck making the right decision. And not making any legal opinion as I am obviously not qualified, just stating some possibilities.
Yeah, you need to have something in your ToS that says something along the lines of any members agree to hold you immune to any suite from them for anything, and if they cause a suite against you from a 3rd party, they agree to pay all damages and attorney fees awarded. I would also think about counter suing if it goes to court.
The chances of any lawsuit from this type of thing are slim to none. But I am curious what you think the grounds for a counter suit would be?
First of all, nice forum. Secondly, unless you get a letter sent via registered mail, you're probably best off to ignore it.
Here's how the big dawgs do it when being sued and asked to cease & desist, maybe you should take notes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNT2LexnswM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Z0DFprvIPs I wouldn't suggest this route of ignoring the matter without consulting your attorney.
I look on the internet ALL the time for reviews of products and services. I think there is nothing illegal about people giving their opinion on such things. Are there any positive things said about that company/person on your website - or just negative? I would not remove the opinions, but I would remove curse words, threats, and racial type stuff. Get a moderator to do the editing. Seriously! It means that the guy is willing and started to spend money on pursing his lawsuit. Perhaps this is a hint of being serious.
I don't believe they can file suit based on individual user opinions. You should be protected under the Communications Decency Act which basically says site operators can not be held liable for user comments. Do some research on the Communications Decency Act. You'll find a lot of examples like the suit filed by Video Professor over anonymous complaints on wikipedia and a few scam reporting sites. Here is a worthy read with a few examples. http://www.squidoo.com/cda230 HTML: Sorry, can't post live links yet.
I would leave the posts as is. As mention above, if you get a letter then decide from there. In all reality if they really are providing bad service then they don't really have much ground to stand on if they did sue. Aside from that you can inform them that if they sue you you will remove all mention of them from your forum and not send any more traffic there. If they lost half their business then that should be a wake up call, not to mention the expense of suing. It seems as if they are just playing chicken with you, but your sending them traffic, so if they are even half smart they will back down if push comes to shove. Do you make money from them in some way? If not then I wouldn't even hesitate to remove all reference to them so they lose their traffic if they don't straighten up. Quite frankly if they are providing bad service they need to get their act together. Its not your fault that they are providing poor service. Anyway, I would say you clearly have the upper hand and I would tell your vendor to take a hike. Just my two cents. MAtt
A registered letter costs just a couple bucks. It is hardly a reflection of the seriousness of the person sending it. It is not necessary and most lawsuits never involve the sending of one, unless there is a particular reason. People here on DP seem to think that a regular letter can be ignored but a registered one carries some legal weight - that is a common misconception and is not supported by the law.
If they really get 60% of their business from your site, then why would they bite the hand that feeds them? Tell them that proceeding forward with a lawsuit will result in an an immediate removal of any and all of their ads on your site. If they truly value doing business with you, then they would not sue for an honest opinion from a forum member about their company. Furthermore, instead of suing you, they should be offering a solution to the one complaining about them, and then post a reply of how they handled the customer complaint. Good PR (Public Relations) is a wonderful thing for a business. Suing a vendor is one of the worth ways of showing your appreciation for services rendered.