Can she sue?

[dzub319]

CaliforniaMy father in law recently published a book. In the book he talks about sleeping with prostitutes and being with a transvestite. My mother in law who divorced him a few years ago was shocked, disgusted, and embarrassed to find these things went on while they were married. She had asked him to not put her name in the book. He put her full maiden name and pictures of her in the book. She is extremely upset and embarrassed that friends, family and others are going to read the book and ridicule her. Can she sue him? Would there be anyway to pull the book off the shelf? There was not a hard cover made, it is only being sold on Amazon.

 

[Proserpina]

CaliforniaMy father in law recently published a book. In the book he talks about sleeping with prostitutes and being with a transvestite. My mother in law who divorced him a few years ago was shocked, disgusted, and embarrassed to find these things went on while they were married. She had asked him to not put her name in the book. He put her full maiden name and pictures of her in the book. She is extremely upset and embarrassed that friends, family and others are going to read the book and ridicule her. Can she sue him? Would there be anyway to pull the book off the shelf? There was not a hard cover made, it is only being sold on Amazon.

Standby for quincy to pop in but if your FIL has told the truth and only the truth (and that includes using real names and other identifying information) there is no defamation.

Embarrassment cannot be legislated.

 

[Zigner]

If anybody says anything, shouldn't her response simply be: Why do you think he's my EX?

 

[quincy]

CaliforniaMy father in law recently published a book. In the book he talks about sleeping with prostitutes and being with a transvestite. My mother in law who divorced him a few years ago was shocked, disgusted, and embarrassed to find these things went on while they were married. She had asked him to not put her name in the book. He put her full maiden name and pictures of her in the book. She is extremely upset and embarrassed that friends, family and others are going to read the book and ridicule her. Can she sue him? Would there be anyway to pull the book off the shelf? There was not a hard cover made, it is only being sold on Amazon.

Yes, the mother-in-law can sue and potentially win such a suit if she can demonstrate her reputation has been harmed by the publication.

If the father-in-law did not take the photographs that appear in the publication, there are also copyright infringement issues that can come into play.

Embarrassment alone cannot support a defamation lawsuit but what is implied about the mother-in-law in the text could.

The mother-in-law should have the book reviewed by an attorney in her area to see if a legal action is worth pursuing.

 

[Proserpina]

If anybody says anything, shouldn't her response simply be: Why do you think he's my EX?

That, and it seems unlikely that his big "reveal" isn't as big of a shock to anybody else as we might think.

Edited: OP, I rarely advise this but if I were you I'd delete your thread and then if you want further information, sign up again with a different screen-name which cannot be tracked as easily.

 

[quincy]

That, and it seems unlikely that his big "reveal" isn't as big of a shock to anybody else as we might think.

Edited: OP, I rarely advise this but if I were you I'd delete your thread and then if you want further information, sign up again with a different screen-name which cannot be tracked as easily.

The book needs to be read to see what exactly it says about the mother-in-law. Both content and context are important. If there are false implications that can be drawn about the mother-in-law through what has been written by the father-in-law, these can support a legal action (perhaps defamation, false light, publication of private facts ...).



(thanks, Pro and I'mTheFather)