I Screwed Up - How much trouble am I in?

[RonSkin]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? New Mexico

I screwed up. I worked for this company for 12 years, small private in New Jersey. The owner and I were pretty close until I left the company in July. THere were a lot of skeletons in the closet. He on 2 occassions made references to me that were anti-semitic. 1. he called a client a f***cking jew 2. He ask me if I were f*****cking jewish when I asked him to pick up the bill for dinner. I also had another consultant tell me that he called another consultant a f***cking jew when he told him that he was taking the jewish holidays off. He , the other consultant, told he he couldnt believe how anti-semetic the he was.

I got crazy a few nights ago and sent some email posts with bogus identities to two people, a client and a consulting partner, saying i couldnt believe they were working with an anti semite and it could damage their reputation working with an anti semite company. I also posted to a message board that he and the company were anti semetic. I realized I was an idiot, and everything is traceable back to be (supeonas to isps, etc). Im not a rocket scientist but I know that web logs and IP's are traced, and once they know my city I think they can connect two dots without much trouble. ( how many ex employees live in my city?).

So, within 2 days I sent reposted annonomous posts to the people I sent the original messages to, saying he was not an anti-semitic, and I was no more a racist for saying so and apologized. I also reposted on the board that he and his company was not anti-semetic and it was in poor taste, and i was sorry.

Now, I dont know how the recipients took these posts, if they were just deleted or passed on to the owner of the company. I also dont know if they saw or know about my post on the message board.

How much trouble am I in?

THanks... just cant sleep

 

[quincy]

Yup. You screwed up.

As for how much trouble you are in, that is impossible to say. It could depend on how much your emails and postings have affected your former employer's personal or business reputation and on how litigious your former employer is and on how much your former employer is willing to spend on unmasking your identity and pursuing a lawsuit against you.

A defamation suit may not be the strongest action this employer could consider, by the way. Tortious interference is another possibility, since your emails targeted a client and a consulting partner of the company.

It also appears you may have committed a computer crime or two.

Making rapid retractions was a wise move on your part, at any rate.

I guess at this point you just have to wait to see if you are notified by the internet server that they have a court order to release your identifying information. If it gets to that point, consult with an attorney in your area.

New Jersey has a one year statute of limitations for filing a defamation suit. New Mexico's is three years.

 

[RonSkin]

does it make any difference that it was made on a company computer or a company network of my LLC?

And does it /would it help if it came court to it have the employee testify that he knew he was anti semitic if it came to that?

I got the message board cleaned up so its just 2 people, and 36 hours. ANd over the snowstorm in new york, so maybe, they got to read right after eachother. - how much business was done in a day? is this the litmus?

what possible internet crimes - is there time behind bars with that?

any idea of what its going to cost worst case?

 

[quincy]

Does it make any difference if your "defamatory" emails and postings were made on a company computer? It could make a difference to the company and your employment with them.

Would it help to have someone say they share your potentially defamatory views of your former employer? Probably not. In fact, it could get that person sued as well.

How often the message board was visited can perhaps help to mitigate damages in the event of a lawsuit loss. If it can be shown that only one person viewed a defamatory message posted on a message board, for instance, it might be assumed that the reputational harm caused by the publication is not as great as it would be if thousands viewed the posted message. But it can also depend on which one person saw the message and how that person responded to it.

A defamatory statement only needs to be communicated to a single other individual (a third party) to cause reputational harm enough to support a defamation suit that results in a sizeable award of damages.

I am not sure how the computer crime laws are worded in New Mexico and New Jersey. I didn't check them out. Technically, however, any crime that is committed using a computer as the method for or the source of the act would be considered a computer crime. What you did could instead fall under, perhaps, an harassment statute instead of a computer crime statute. You could ask this question of your attorney if you find yourself having to consult with one.

As for the worst case scenario when it comes to cost - well, the estimated average cost of a defamation suit is $500,000. I suppose that could be considered a worst case scenario.

I doubt that what you did would result in any jail time. But this is a guess on my part. Certainly any civil action pursued has no jail time attached.

I doubt that you will find yourself having to defend against a defamation suit or a tortious interference suit. The costs involved would probably not be worth your former employer's pursuit of such an action. In addition, there is never a guarantee that a suit pursued will wind up being a successful one for the pursuer, so your former employer would be considering this, as well.

As I may have implied earlier, a defamation suit in your described situation may not be an especially strong one for your former employer. Calling someone an anti-Semite could potentially be looked at by a court as opinion or hyperbole, although this would be more likely the case if the words were spoken in a heated debate and not written in an anonymous email or posted anonymously on a message board.

Suits have been won in the past over the linking of a person to a swastika symbol and over the false labeling of someone as a member of the Mafia and as a Communist, and even as a "despicable human being." So it really depends on all of the facts.

These facts are best reviewed by an attorney in your area. You can consult with an attorney now to get some "what ifs" and a clearer picture of where you stand, or you could wait it out and hope that no legal action arises from your idiotic emails and postings (although that could lead to three years of nervous no-sleep nights for you). It is up to you.

 

[George1776]

Anybody over 50 has these viewpoints lol; but really, have they suffered any damages over these postings? If not, they have not claim over you. You should hear the stuff that comes out of 50+ white folks, I find it humorous, nothing more. If people want to think jews are doing this or that then who am I to wag a finger - they have freedom of speech & its not directed against anyone in particular. Those rotten Klingons!

 

[quincy]

If you defame a large group as a whole (generally over 25 members), you would not (generally) lose a defamation lawsuit should one be filed against you, however defaming an identified member or members of that group, or defaming a small group as a whole, can lead to a successful defamation suit against you.

So, George, you do not need to worry about defaming the Klingons as a whole - you just need to worry about dodging the particle beams and antimatter warheads aimed in your direction.