GraphicVision1
Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Us: Arizona, Her: Kentucky
So the story goes my wife is part of an online wedding planning community where they share ideas for wedding planning and even keep profiles updated after the wedding with photos and comments on how everything went. So she updated her profile with a comment about how she felt our photographer was not what she claimed to be and she was unhappy with her work. So someone asked her to tell more about what what happened, so my wife makes a post about all the things she felt our photographer did wrong. Keep in mind, this was months ago.
So this morning I get a text from my wife saying the photographer emailed her saying she was going to sue her for slander and she's freaking out. So my wife forwards me the emails and the post she made and I read through them. My wife definitely didn't hold back on anything, but the key is she was honest and didn't say anything that was untrue or mean just to be mean, as bad as some of the things the photographer did. I called the photographer instead of having my wife make things worse by getting into a verbal fight with her. I tried my best to remain calm, not raise my voice or interrupt her and be civil, but the photographer was out of control, basically yelling at me for my wife being a "bold face lier" and making up things about her. She said that she hired a lawyer and gave me his name (which I wrote down). She kept slamming my wife and screaming about her "lies" in my ear. I kept calm and kept repeating that the only solution is for us to take the post down and it will resolve the problem, she walks away, we walk away. Each time I expressed this she would cut me off and start bashing my wife again and saying she was making stuff up and had post-wedding pardom depression.
I finally gave up being civil and told her she had no grounds for suing us and she would never be able to prove that she was telling the truth and my wife was lying because, well, simply put my wife doesn't lie. She has all the email communication and miscommunication between them, witnesses to how the photographer acted duing the wedding and we have the bad photos to prove what she was saying in the post was accurate and not slander. Plus there's no way the photographer could prove how much business she lost, if any, due to this post. Keep in mind the post was made months ago, so no one has even looked at it in months. Plus vendors are not supposed to be on this website at all, so she obviously made up a fake profile to view it, which she was caught once before in the past of doing and was kicked off the site.
So after I tell her how she doesn't have grounds or can't prove anything and that the only solution is to take the post down, she hangs up on me. I didn't raise my voice the entire time and I tried everything in my power to not fight with her, although she kept pushing me to do it. I looked up the name she gave me of her "lawyer" and called his office, but of course got his voicemail. I left a message explaining I got his name from a client about slander on a public forum over her photography business and still haven't heard back from him. My wife just texted me saying she took the post down, so it's no longer viewable online to anyone.
The photographer also emailed our wedding planner and told her because my wife was causing problems, she couldn't use our wedding photos to promote her wedding planning business since she owns the rights. On our contract though it says she gives up all rights once she hands the photos over to us and has been paid.
So my question is, does she have any grounds for suing us for the post being up, even now that it's been taken down? Did we fail at standing our ground and keeping the post up because it was my wife's honest opinion and she wasn't just making up "bold face lies"? Does the photographer have the right to tell our wedding planner she can't use our wedding photos for promoting her wedding planning business even though she gave up all rights when we purchased the photos?
My wife was freaking out before but seems much calmer now that I've been trying to resolve everything. I'm just really torn as to what to do because I know what my wife went though with her and how obviously out of control she is after talking to her on the phone, so I feel like taking the post down means another bride/groom might have no clue what's coming when they hire her. At the same time I'm so wanting to be done with it and move on so should I even care? It's tough because that's what public forums are all about, helping one another and trying to share stories and opinions. Ugh.
Cliffs:
- Wife posts negative comments about wedding photographer on online forum
- Photographer sends email to wife saying she's going to sue us for slander
- Photographer sends email to wedding planner to not to use our photos
- I call photographer and she yells at me the whole time and hangs up on me
- Wife takes post down
- I call supposed attorney and get no phone call back
- What gives? Does she have grounds for suing us? Preventing use of photos?
- Are we chumps for giving in and taking the post down?
So the story goes my wife is part of an online wedding planning community where they share ideas for wedding planning and even keep profiles updated after the wedding with photos and comments on how everything went. So she updated her profile with a comment about how she felt our photographer was not what she claimed to be and she was unhappy with her work. So someone asked her to tell more about what what happened, so my wife makes a post about all the things she felt our photographer did wrong. Keep in mind, this was months ago.
So this morning I get a text from my wife saying the photographer emailed her saying she was going to sue her for slander and she's freaking out. So my wife forwards me the emails and the post she made and I read through them. My wife definitely didn't hold back on anything, but the key is she was honest and didn't say anything that was untrue or mean just to be mean, as bad as some of the things the photographer did. I called the photographer instead of having my wife make things worse by getting into a verbal fight with her. I tried my best to remain calm, not raise my voice or interrupt her and be civil, but the photographer was out of control, basically yelling at me for my wife being a "bold face lier" and making up things about her. She said that she hired a lawyer and gave me his name (which I wrote down). She kept slamming my wife and screaming about her "lies" in my ear. I kept calm and kept repeating that the only solution is for us to take the post down and it will resolve the problem, she walks away, we walk away. Each time I expressed this she would cut me off and start bashing my wife again and saying she was making stuff up and had post-wedding pardom depression.
I finally gave up being civil and told her she had no grounds for suing us and she would never be able to prove that she was telling the truth and my wife was lying because, well, simply put my wife doesn't lie. She has all the email communication and miscommunication between them, witnesses to how the photographer acted duing the wedding and we have the bad photos to prove what she was saying in the post was accurate and not slander. Plus there's no way the photographer could prove how much business she lost, if any, due to this post. Keep in mind the post was made months ago, so no one has even looked at it in months. Plus vendors are not supposed to be on this website at all, so she obviously made up a fake profile to view it, which she was caught once before in the past of doing and was kicked off the site.
So after I tell her how she doesn't have grounds or can't prove anything and that the only solution is to take the post down, she hangs up on me. I didn't raise my voice the entire time and I tried everything in my power to not fight with her, although she kept pushing me to do it. I looked up the name she gave me of her "lawyer" and called his office, but of course got his voicemail. I left a message explaining I got his name from a client about slander on a public forum over her photography business and still haven't heard back from him. My wife just texted me saying she took the post down, so it's no longer viewable online to anyone.
The photographer also emailed our wedding planner and told her because my wife was causing problems, she couldn't use our wedding photos to promote her wedding planning business since she owns the rights. On our contract though it says she gives up all rights once she hands the photos over to us and has been paid.
So my question is, does she have any grounds for suing us for the post being up, even now that it's been taken down? Did we fail at standing our ground and keeping the post up because it was my wife's honest opinion and she wasn't just making up "bold face lies"? Does the photographer have the right to tell our wedding planner she can't use our wedding photos for promoting her wedding planning business even though she gave up all rights when we purchased the photos?
My wife was freaking out before but seems much calmer now that I've been trying to resolve everything. I'm just really torn as to what to do because I know what my wife went though with her and how obviously out of control she is after talking to her on the phone, so I feel like taking the post down means another bride/groom might have no clue what's coming when they hire her. At the same time I'm so wanting to be done with it and move on so should I even care? It's tough because that's what public forums are all about, helping one another and trying to share stories and opinions. Ugh.
Cliffs:
- Wife posts negative comments about wedding photographer on online forum
- Photographer sends email to wife saying she's going to sue us for slander
- Photographer sends email to wedding planner to not to use our photos
- I call photographer and she yells at me the whole time and hangs up on me
- Wife takes post down
- I call supposed attorney and get no phone call back
- What gives? Does she have grounds for suing us? Preventing use of photos?
- Are we chumps for giving in and taking the post down?
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