Libel?

[mikea]

Michigan. While on craigslist i came across a boat mechanic that i contacted to have do some work on my boat. we emailed back and forth a few times and set an appt. the day of service came and he never showed. I called him and someone at his residence answered and basically just hung up when i asked to speak to him. The mechanic never contacted me or showed up to do work (no money was exchanged).

Some time later i saw a post on craigslist with very negative coments about the same mechanic. I decided to respond to this post and share my own experience (i will paste my response below) with the mechanic. he has since removed the post and emailed me saying it is slander (or libel). from what i read, the statements must be false to be considered either, is that correct? as you can see, everything i stated was fact from my experience.

"RE: beware of (mechanics name) (drive 2 u 2 tkae $$$$$$)

You are corect. I had an appt scheduled with him and he never showed. I called him and is D-bag son (i assume its his loser son) simply said 'nobody here' and hung up. Sory you got taken by this ass but after reading your post and another, i am glad he didn't show

Unprofessional and rude

BEWARE OF (Mechanics name) THE non-mechanic
BTW here is his email address. if this the guy that responds - RUN away - FAST

mitchinmich@..."


thanks for the help

 

[HomeGuru]

Michigan. While on craigslist i came across a boat mechanic that i contacted to have do some work on my boat. we emailed back and forth a few times and set an appt. the day of service came and he never showed. I called him and someone at his residence answered and basically just hung up when i asked to speak to him. The mechanic never contacted me or showed up to do work (no money was exchanged).

Some time later i saw a post on craigslist with very negative coments about the same mechanic. I decided to respond to this post and share my own experience (i will paste my response below) with the mechanic. he has since removed the post and emailed me saying it is slander (or libel). from what i read, the statements must be false to be considered either, is that correct? as you can see, everything i stated was fact from my experience.

"RE: beware of mitch (drive 2 u 2 tkae $$$$$$)

You are corect. I had an appt scheduled with him and he never showed. I called him and is D-bag son (i assume its his loser son) simply said 'nobody here' and hung up. Sory you got taken by this ass but after reading your post and another, i am glad he didn't show

Unprofessional and rude

BEWARE OF MITCH THE non-mechanic
BTW here is his email address. if this the guy that responds - RUN away - FAST

mitchinmich@..."


thanks for the help

**A: are you saying that what you posted is true and correct?

 

[mikea]

Well, i can not say for certain the the person whom answered the phone is his son, or in fact a D-bag (that is opinion - ha), but yes, what i posted is my experience with him and true

 

[HomeGuru]

Well, i can not say for certain the the person whom answered the phone is his son, or in fact a D-bag (that is opinion - ha), but yes, what i posted is my experience with him and true

**A: then you have liability.

 

[mikea]

liability with the son? assuming its his son.

 

[quincy]

Could you remove the name of the mechanic, please? Thank you.

Question: Is the "drive 2 u 2 take $$$$$$" part of YOUR negative review of the mechanic, or from the other person's review?

"D-bag" and "loser" and "ass" and "rude" are all opinions. Although it was not wise to call the mechanic's son a loser and a D-bag without knowing if it was the son who answered the phone, I cannot envision any scenario where these insults, tossed the son's way, could support a legal action against you.

"Unprofessional" and "non-mechanic" can be viewed as either opinion or defamation, but both appear to be a fair comments when taken in context of your entire review. Both of these comments go outside the range of your personal experience, however. It is not smart to generalize about a person (or an entity) when writing a review based on a single experience with that person (or entity).

My only real concern with your negative review (and it is not a major one) would be the implication made by the part I quoted at the top. That part could potentially be looked at as defamatory because it can imply the mechanic took $$$ and then didn't show up to do the work. And you said you never paid him. That is why I asked the question I asked.

Negative reviews often spawn threats to sue, because no one likes to be reviewed negatively and threats are cheap. A defamation suit, however, is not cheap.

I honestly do not believe you have anything to worry about. You can always run it by an attorney in your area, if your concern over the matter persists.

 

[mikea]

quincy, and HG, thank you both.

I will go back and remove his name from this forum. the 'drive to you' part was from another persons post that had a bad experience with the guy, not mine. i was simply replying to it (RE. i should have chosen my words better i suppose. after wasting an entire day waiting for this guy, i was a bit upset. seeing that someone else also had a bad experience with him sort of set me off i guess. also, what i meant bynon-mechanic is just that he did not show up

Should i offer to retract my statements in another post to him?
thanks again

 

[HomeGuru]

quincy, and HG, thank you both.

I will go back and remove his name from this forum. the 'drive to you' part was from another persons post that had a bad experience with the guy, not mine. i was simply replying to it (RE. i should have chosen my words better i suppose. after wasting an entire day waiting for this guy, i was a bit upset. seeing that someone else also had a bad experience with him sort of set me off i guess. also, what i meant bynon-mechanic is just that he did not show up

Should i offer to retract my statements in another post to him?
thanks again

**A: yes, I would.

 

[quincy]

While you can offer to retract what you wrote (and HomeGuru seems to think it is a good idea), or you can delete the parts of your original review that go outside your own experience with the mechanic, I see nothing wrong with writing an honest negative review about a person or a business with whom or with which you had a bad experience.

A retraction or deletions can, however, be a good way to appease the mechanic and hopefully eliminate any more of his threats.

It is your right under the First Amendment to critique and criticize and express your opinion. As long as no false facts are stated or implied and you do not invade another's privacy when you do so, you are generally on safe legal ground. I am not fond of people or businesses who threaten to sue for no legitimate legal reason but only to silence their critics, but they often do and it is, unfortunately, often effective.