Is this character defamation?

[quincy]

Eerelations, I believe Employee0001 questions ALL of our qualifications - which makes one wonder how good he is at judging the competency of his former employer.

[Employee0001]

Thanks for the information. It sounds like the EEOC complaint is the best way to go first off.

This guy really does have more than a few issues.

The only thing I can PROVE using evidence is that the owner committed software piracy. I have pirated copies of software that he produced with his handwriting on it. Not a serious crime but still worth a $25,000 fine per violation. Maybe I could also get him audited by the IRS.

Here is a follow-up question. If I claim him to be a poor business manager for specific reasons, isn't that just my opinion? I don't believe I have to PROVE my opinion true in court, right? For example, if I claim he has AIDS, but he takes a test to prove that is not true, thats defamation, but in this case, isn't it just my opinion that he did a poor job of managing me, and its upto this individual to prove that is not true and thats impossible?

Employee0001

[cyjeff]

Originally Posted by Employee0001

Thanks for the information. It sounds like the EEOC complaint is the best way to go first off.

This guy really does have more than a few issues.

The only thing I can PROVE using evidence is that the owner committed software piracy. I have pirated copies of software that he produced with his handwriting on it. Not a serious crime but still worth a $25,000 fine per violation. Maybe I could also get him audited by the IRS.

Here is a follow-up question. If I claim him to be a poor business manager for specific reasons, isn't that just my opinion? I don't believe I have to PROVE my opinion true in court, right? For example, if I claim he has AIDS, but he takes a test to prove that is not true, thats defamation, but in this case, isn't it just my opinion that he did a poor job of managing me, and its upto this individual to prove that is not true and thats impossible?

Employee0001

You are entitled to your opinion.

However, if you go out of your way to try to contact all of his customers with your opinion, you could face a suit.

Oh, and seem really petty and bothersome as well. This is exactly the type of behavior that you don't want to have to explain to your NEXT interview.

"So, if you are mad at ME", hopeful new boss will say, "you are going to go down the contact list and tell everyone I am a poopy head, too? Thank you so much for coming in... don't bother leaving your resume, we won't need it."

[quincy]

"Opinion" makes for a tricky defamation defense and, again, it is just a defense to a lawsuit. It does not prevent a lawsuit; it does not prevent you from having to expend a lot of time and money on defending against a lawsuit; it does not prevent you from losing a lawsuit.

Opinions are rarely pure, often state or imply facts, and frequently are judged defamatory. Having shown the basis for the forming of the opinion can strengthen an opinion defense, but it is no guarantee this defense will defeat the claim against you. It would be up to a court to decide.

A court would look at the understood meaning of any statement, the verifiability of any facts stated or implied, the context in which the statement was made. While extreme, unreasonable and even erroneous opinions can be protected speech, false accusations of crime and assaults on character, no matter how couched, are generally not protected.

And, a finding of malice in your words and actions, as I said earlier, can weigh heavily against any defense you may have.

Filing a sexual harassment complaint would be a good first step. However, even if you win this claim, you cannot safely communicate that fact to your former employer's customers in letters. Sexual harassment in a business is an internal matter. The business customers generally have no business interest in whether the owner of the business harasses his employees, if the business is providing the services the customers need. To inform the customers of the sexual harassment claim would be to interfere with the business relationship between the customer and your employer. This interference could lead to a lawsuit being filed against you.

By the way, if you have copies of pirated software, you might want to check out the penalties you can face.

I also agree with everything cyjeff said.

[cyjeff]

Ya know, quincy, we keep agreeing and people are going to start rumors about us....

[quincy]

Ha. Agreeing IS sort of unusual for us, isn't it?

[Employee0001]

[url=http://www.jobvent.com/]I Love My Job - I Hate My Job - Reviews by Employees[/url]

[quincy]

I am not sure why you posted the "job vent" site, Employee, but if it is to show that employees can write about their employers, that is obvious and not in question. People have the freedom to write and to complain.

Having this freedom to write and complain, however, does not prevent an employer from firing an employee who vents about him in an online post, nor does it prevent an employer from suing an employee who posts defamatory comments about him online (or elsewhere).

Many people will post derogatory or defamatory comments online about their employers, and they will do so "anonymously" on sites like RipOff Report and Job Vent, believing this anonymity protects them from a firing and from a lawsuit. This is not the case. No one is anonymous online - and if a posting is defamatory, the poster can be sued. The anonymous poster's true identity can be revealed (and can often be deduced easily enough by what is posted).

If you posted your complaints about your employer on the job vent site, instead of sending out letters to your employer's customers, that may afford you some protection, as internet suits are harder to bring. But it does not eliminate your risk of a suit if you named and defamed your employer.

I personally think you should be out looking for another job instead of spending so much of your time and energy seeking revenge against your former employer. . . . . .

[msincognito]

Originally Posted by quincy

"Opinion" makes for a tricky defamation defense and, again, it is just a defense to a lawsuit. It does not prevent a lawsuit; it does not prevent you from having to expend a lot of time and money on defending against a lawsuit; it does not prevent you from losing a lawsuit.

I would normally not bump a thread this old, but I just wanted to underscore the truth of this.

My employer was a defendant in a lawsuit that turned, in large part, on whether the objected-to speech was protected as opinion. Just about everyone agreed that it was opinion - heck, it was printed on a page that said "OPINION" in big letters at the top - but we were in court for more than a year, went through discovery and had several hearings with expensive lawyers all around the table before the judge said "Well, clearly this is opinion. Dismissed."

(It was also opinion based on truth, but the lawyers decided that it would be quicker and easier to pursue the opinion defense. The sad thing is, they were probably right. And I had to cover the case, which wasn't fun, because the plaintiff had added the two previous reporters on the story as additional defendants on the grounds that they repeated the libel when they wrote about the case.)

[quincy]

One of the more difficult aspects about posting on this site, I have discovered, is trying to simplify a tort that is not in any way simple.

When large sums of money are at stake, even the most minor of points can become matters of major contention, which can lead to some pretty inventive arguments, which in turn can prolong an already lengthy process, with litigation costs escalating exponentially. Rarely are defamation action times, costs, or outcomes easy to predict.

I am glad your employer, and you, survived the suit.