I live in Texas and have been sued by an Ebay seller in another state for negative feedback I gave. The seller's attorney filed the complaint in small claims court in the seller's state. The complaint is that I intentionally and knowingly made false statements about the seller, causing loss of business, the dollar amount, not surprisingly being for the small claims court limit.
I spoke with the seller's attorney. They would settle for several thousand dollars. The attorney reasons that it would cost me that much to hire an attorney and travel to the sellers state just to defend myself. The attorney further justified that this is what others that they sued actually did pay.
I didn't agree with the settlement terms. I asked the attorney what was false about my negative feedback comment. The attorney could find nothing false or derogatory about my statement. That seemed to matter little. The point was my feedback was negative, a minus, not a zero, or a plus. As we looked at the seller's ebay feedback together, each of us on our own computer while on the phone, I pointed out some other recent negative feedback. The attorney commented that we are suing them too.
The seller's feedback we were looking at showed that the seller had a large percentage of positive feedback, but got negative feedback, about a half dozen times in the past month, 3 times that in the past 6 months, and a few dozen times in the past year. It also shows almost 3 dozen mutual retractions. Common in the negative feedback were complaints of seller bullying, libel lawsuit threats, harassing phone calls from the seller. You definitely get the feeling the seller is trying to draw those giving negative feedback off sides.
How can this seller afford to do this kind of thing? It strikes me as dishonest, and on the attorney's part unethical. Surely, he is well aware what his client is doing.
They aren't going to win this case, and they know it, but it could cost me to defend myself. Do you have any advice for defending myself at a minimal cost? Is there a criminal or ethics issue? Can I find out from the court or some other source how many such suits the seller filed in small claims court this past year?
In one sense, it is appalling that this kind of thing can go on on Ebay, but as has been well documented elsewhere, they will do nothing but send useless replies to any complaint. Ebay encourages honest feedback left to guide other buyers. The fine print on the seller's auction site, in so many words, says that freedom of speech doesn't include negative feedback. Is some kind of class action suit too far fetched here?What is the name of your state?
I spoke with the seller's attorney. They would settle for several thousand dollars. The attorney reasons that it would cost me that much to hire an attorney and travel to the sellers state just to defend myself. The attorney further justified that this is what others that they sued actually did pay.
I didn't agree with the settlement terms. I asked the attorney what was false about my negative feedback comment. The attorney could find nothing false or derogatory about my statement. That seemed to matter little. The point was my feedback was negative, a minus, not a zero, or a plus. As we looked at the seller's ebay feedback together, each of us on our own computer while on the phone, I pointed out some other recent negative feedback. The attorney commented that we are suing them too.
The seller's feedback we were looking at showed that the seller had a large percentage of positive feedback, but got negative feedback, about a half dozen times in the past month, 3 times that in the past 6 months, and a few dozen times in the past year. It also shows almost 3 dozen mutual retractions. Common in the negative feedback were complaints of seller bullying, libel lawsuit threats, harassing phone calls from the seller. You definitely get the feeling the seller is trying to draw those giving negative feedback off sides.
How can this seller afford to do this kind of thing? It strikes me as dishonest, and on the attorney's part unethical. Surely, he is well aware what his client is doing.
They aren't going to win this case, and they know it, but it could cost me to defend myself. Do you have any advice for defending myself at a minimal cost? Is there a criminal or ethics issue? Can I find out from the court or some other source how many such suits the seller filed in small claims court this past year?
In one sense, it is appalling that this kind of thing can go on on Ebay, but as has been well documented elsewhere, they will do nothing but send useless replies to any complaint. Ebay encourages honest feedback left to guide other buyers. The fine print on the seller's auction site, in so many words, says that freedom of speech doesn't include negative feedback. Is some kind of class action suit too far fetched here?What is the name of your state?