Do I have a case against the city?

[dollarsilver]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? South Dakota
I have been fighting with the city for years now because of the exotic dancer bar I owned. They had a commission meeting to try and revoke our liquor license because I'm not an appropriate person to have a liquor license. The city attorney told me to my face I'm a drug addict and also to friends of mine and I've never been convicted of a drug crime. Then the city told the KSFY news I had pending drug charges and I don't. The license was transfered to my mothers name and now they are trying to take it from her because she let me work here. The city voted to revoke the license and it went to state level. The city told her she had two weeks to sell the business and they wouldn't revoke it so she sold it for half what we were asking. After the sale the state notified us they didn't have enough to revoke the license. I have the newspaper article from the internet and the 10 o'clock news where they stated I was not allowed in the business because of pending drug charges which is not true.

 

[JETX]

I have been fighting with the city for years now because of the exotic dancer bar I owned. They had a commission meeting to try and revoke our liquor license because I'm not an appropriate person to have a liquor license. The city attorney told me to my face I'm a drug addict and also to friends of mine and I've never been convicted of a drug crime. Then the city told the KSFY news I had pending drug charges and I don't. The license was transfered to my mothers name and now they are trying to take it from her because she let me work here. The city voted to revoke the license and it went to state level. The city told her she had two weeks to sell the business and they wouldn't revoke it so she sold it for half what we were asking. After the sale the state notified us they didn't have enough to revoke the license. I have the newspaper article from the internet and the 10 o'clock news where they stated I was not allowed in the business because of pending drug charges which is not true.

I doubt you have any case. If you do, it would depend ENTIRELY on the context of what was said and how.
Your only hope is to contact a local attorney who can review the FACTS and determine whether defamation did occur... and if so, what damages, if any.

 

[quincy]

I agree with JetX that you need to speak with an attorney in your area, but I have less doubt than he apparently does that you don't have a case worth pursuing. It appears from what you have posted that you do.

Although I understand that the city's goal was probably to shut your business down, I AM curious why the city made false claims about you? If you have no drug arrest or conviction history, and no drug charges pending, why would the city tell the news that you do, especially since this is something that is so easily proved false?

And why would you transfer the liquor license to your mother and sell the business prior to contacting an attorney, if you knew that the claims made about you were false and the city was basing their actions on these false claims?

It also seems strange to me that the news did not check out the city's claims and contact you for comment before publishing the story. . . . . .

At any rate, any defamation action would probably be against the city and not the newspaper, if the news accurately quoted what the city said to them about the drug charges - although an action against both could be possible. A review of the news article and a review of the content of the broadcast and a review of all of the facts leading up to the publication of the erroneous statements would be, as JetX said, necessary, to determine if you have an actionable case.

Is there more, perhaps, to your story than what you have posted here (ie. a lot of pertinent facts that have been left out)?

 

[JETX]

Is there more, perhaps, to your story than what you have posted here (ie. a lot of pertinent facts that have been left out)?

Which is EXACTLY why I posted as I did. A lot of the 'complaints' are subjective at best and need to be reviewed in their entirety.... before ANYONE can rightfully say "I have less doubt than he apparently does that you don't have a case worth pursuing. It appears from what you have posted that you do (have a claim)."

 

[quincy]

No, JetX. Someone CAN rightfully say (and DID rightfully say, I might add) that he has less doubt than you do. I DO have less doubt than you do.

Going strictly by the information provided to us by dollarsilver in his post, dollarsilver has what appears to be a good basis for a defamation action. Calling someone a drug addict, a drug user, or a person who has drug charges pending, is defamatory if false. Having a false statement published in and on the news increases reputational injury. Property that must be sold at a loss due to false claims and (apparently) baseless threats is demonstrable economic injury. Certainly if the city knew, suspected, or should have known that their statement about dollarsilver's pending drug charges was false, fault can be shown.

I agree with you that an attorney needs to review ALL of the facts, to determine if what appears to be on the surface a clear case of defamation is really so clear.

I know for a fact that city attorneys and city officials can and do lie (I live in the Detroit area, afterall ). Usually the press will investigate what is said to see if any claims that are made have any basis in fact. The press is generally pretty careful when handling crime stories and accusations of criminal acts, as they can be held liable for printing or broadcasting defamatory statements.

It is what dollarsilver says the media's role was in reporting the claims made by the city, without first speaking to dollarsilver or verifying the truth of the statements, that seems odd to me. Certainly that seems odder to me than the fact that city officials would lie. I would be interested in seeing what exactly was written and broadcast.