pro_perdef
Member
State: Nevada
I have been sued by an apartment complex, its owner, and two employees for defamation per se due to comments they allege appeared on apartmentratings.com
There are many problems with the suit.
1) Most of the printed copies of the comments they say appeared about their apartment property look NOTHING like anything printed from apartmentratings.com. They look more like something that was created in a word processor. Worse, most of the alleged comments don't appear on the website and haven't since at least the day I was served with the complaint.
2) Each and every one of the defamatory postings they claim to have printed from the website shows that is was "posted" by an anonymous person, and whoever that person is, it sure as hell isn't me.
3) One of the anonymous posts DOES appear on the website, but I didn't post it. Interestingly, my investigation has revealed that the post was made on a date that almost perfectly coincides with date that the Plaintiffs attorney was getting foreclosure notices on her home. I believe that this attorney was looking for a rental home, found this website, and smelled an opportunity and that SHE posted the comment and brought it to the attention of the property who then used me as a convenient scapegoat.
4) The plaintiffs, despite 12 months of discovery, have not produced one single shred of documentary evidence that proves I have any involvement in posting ANYTHING on the website...they haven't subpoenaed the website, they haven't produced ip addresses, e-mail addresses, etc. They expect the court to accept their explanation that "we know he did it."
5) Even though posts on apartmentratings.com all have unique URL addresses, when a demand for production of each and every URL address for each of the alleged comments was made, the plaintiffs produced the same URL address for every one...and that URL address doesn't lead to ANY of the alleged comments.
I don't have anything to do with this, but this case is now 2 YEARS old. Who bears the burden of proving that the posts really ever appeared on apartmentratings.com and that I made them? Do I bear the burden of proving that I did not make the comments, or do the Plaintiffs bear the burden of proving that I did?
They didn't sue "john doe," they sued ME because of some battles that were fought during the 5 month I was a tenant..it all smacks of retaliation and abuse of process to me.
I have been sued by an apartment complex, its owner, and two employees for defamation per se due to comments they allege appeared on apartmentratings.com
There are many problems with the suit.
1) Most of the printed copies of the comments they say appeared about their apartment property look NOTHING like anything printed from apartmentratings.com. They look more like something that was created in a word processor. Worse, most of the alleged comments don't appear on the website and haven't since at least the day I was served with the complaint.
2) Each and every one of the defamatory postings they claim to have printed from the website shows that is was "posted" by an anonymous person, and whoever that person is, it sure as hell isn't me.
3) One of the anonymous posts DOES appear on the website, but I didn't post it. Interestingly, my investigation has revealed that the post was made on a date that almost perfectly coincides with date that the Plaintiffs attorney was getting foreclosure notices on her home. I believe that this attorney was looking for a rental home, found this website, and smelled an opportunity and that SHE posted the comment and brought it to the attention of the property who then used me as a convenient scapegoat.
4) The plaintiffs, despite 12 months of discovery, have not produced one single shred of documentary evidence that proves I have any involvement in posting ANYTHING on the website...they haven't subpoenaed the website, they haven't produced ip addresses, e-mail addresses, etc. They expect the court to accept their explanation that "we know he did it."
5) Even though posts on apartmentratings.com all have unique URL addresses, when a demand for production of each and every URL address for each of the alleged comments was made, the plaintiffs produced the same URL address for every one...and that URL address doesn't lead to ANY of the alleged comments.
I don't have anything to do with this, but this case is now 2 YEARS old. Who bears the burden of proving that the posts really ever appeared on apartmentratings.com and that I made them? Do I bear the burden of proving that I did not make the comments, or do the Plaintiffs bear the burden of proving that I did?
They didn't sue "john doe," they sued ME because of some battles that were fought during the 5 month I was a tenant..it all smacks of retaliation and abuse of process to me.