I am a landlord and webmaster of www.freeLandlordSoftware.com. I recently added a beta tenant rental history database. One tenant that was in there as a negative tenant has threatened to sue me in a class action suit with the other negative tenants. I was saying nothing slanderous, just the mess and damages this tenant left me with. Where do I stand legally? It's legal for me to give good and bad references when other landlords call me, why is it not legal to post these rental histories to the web (if that's the case)? I have a call in to an atty but I wanted to throw this out to the newsgroup. I have been blogging about it on my website too. Thanks for the input.
Is it 100% verifiable truth? If so, that's your defense. This tenant will need to prove special damages resulting from your reporting non-true information (must be proved). The tenant that threatened you probably has no clue of what a class action law suit is or what's involved. It's just something ignorant people like to throw around. Does your rental agreement mention that their performance (or lack thereof) may be reported to outside entities? If you are reporting truthful information (100%), then tell that tenant to stop harassing you. Tell them to have his or her lawyer contact you (or your lawyer). Let us know what the attorney says.
Just noticed you live extremely close to me, I live in Marietta. I may be looking for an apartment in the near future I agree with MarketJunction, unless there are some sort of laws in place specifically dealing with renter's rights to privacy or something, I can't see them having legal ground to stand on. It's only libel if it's untrue, and libel cases are extremely difficult to prove. However, this doesn't mean you wont spend considerable time in court defending yourself. People can file a suit for anything and if you're dealing on a local level, it's a lot easier for them to do it. More than likely though, it would end up in small claims court, which I'm sure you're familiar with already if you've been in the business for awhile. You'd definitely want to consult an attorney on this though just so he can cover all possibilities and advise you properly.
Thanks for the replies guys. I was thinking the same thing the two of you were. It's 100% true what I have written. I can't vouch for the other landlords that would contribute, or the jaded whoever that is pretending to be a landlord and posting bad reviews for kicks. Perhaps I'll consult the atty, then post mine if ok, then put some sort of validation system in place, then back to the atty, then ftp the whole bunch... I'll keep you posted. Let me know if you have any more ideas... cb