I am being threatened with a libel suit

What is the name of your state?Alabama

I recently visited a discussion board wher I pointed out some pathetic practices about a company I used to do contract work for. I used to install satellite equipment for them. I left their co. back in May. they have a retainage account of mine that equals 765.22 that I was told I would receive after 6 months. This protects against bad work which is understandable. They are telling me now that alot of my retainage is gone because several of the customers have canceled programming. I did not make these sales they did. All I did was the(install) labor and also supplied the cable and all materials. So they are backcharging my labor for their customers canceling not only do I lose my time I lose my materials and my gas money. I pointed this out on a cable and satellite discussion board. I received a call from the owner saying is going to sue me for $100,000 for libel. He said he will sue me in Dallas TX He told he will do his best to make me go Bankrupt. He also said it is in my contract that I accept this responsibility for customers but I did not understand it to mean that I thought it was like other companys I worked for and protected them if they had to fix my installs. I really would appreciate any help

bearfan said:

I received a call from the owner saying is going to sue me for $100,000 for libel.

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Of course, that is likely all talk... as these threats very seldom actually end up in litigation.... especially unless you have heard from an attorney.
If he does file a lawsuit.... as long as you stated the absolute truth... then it is NOT defamation.

He said he will sue me in Dallas TX

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Again, in the unlikely event that he does file, simply file a motion to dismiss due to venue.

Thanks for your reply. Some more info. on my situation. The messages I posted on the discussion board were deleted by I assume the administrator probably within 10 minutes. I think this guy either has admin privilages or has direct access to the admin. Nevertheless If my posts were dleted basically the same hour I posted them does that make a difference for me? I wanted to look at my posts and make sure I didn't word anything wrong or unprovable but my posts were gone. On my posts I did say them backcharging my labor was theft and I 100 percent believe that but can that get me in trouble?

bearfan said:

Thanks for your reply. Some more info. on my situation. The messages I posted on the discussion board were deleted by I assume the administrator probably within 10 minutes. I think this guy either has admin privilages or has direct access to the admin. Nevertheless If my posts were dleted basically the same hour I posted them does that make a difference for me? I wanted to look at my posts and make sure I didn't word anything wrong or unprovable but my posts were gone. On my posts I did say them backcharging my labor was theft and I 100 percent believe that but can that get me in trouble?

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Read JETX's answer again.

and then again**************

Is it that simple the motion to dismiss due to venue? Is there a chance they would refuse to do this?

bearfan said:

Is it that simple the motion to dismiss due to venue? Is there a chance they would refuse to do this?

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**A: nothing is ever that simple. And there is no guaranty.

Even if your posts were deleted they could be subpoenaed. What does your contract say, exact words, not your understanding.

They never gave me a copy of my contract the manager was suppose to but never did. I do have a blank contract (not signed or filled out) I will post here how it reads later. My contract brings up another couple of questions. There are sveral pages to it but you only sign in about two places. Am I liable for all pages in between? The reason I ask this is it seems to me they could rewrite anything they want on those other pages. Also it was not notorized or witnessed. Is this a valid contract? One more point about my contract I was originally contracted to be Installation manager and received $10 overrides per install. They out of the blue one day said they were doing away with this position corporate wide and the office managers would take over this role. So they took away my overrides they didn't give me anything in writing I told the regional manager that this terminates my contract but he said I didn't have anything in writing(I never got a copy) showing I was install mgr. I know I signed a paper stating this was my position the regional mgr asked me if I wanted my title to be install mgr. or install supervisor. All of my pay stubs untill this point lists overrides and my last checks of course don't have any. Still one more point, this owner said he is going to also backcharge several of my overrides for their customers canceling early saying they were sales overrides but this is a not true. I was install mgr. I had to come in early open the office let techs in issue epuipment, receivers, dish kits etc. I had to dispatch work I had to do quality checks on techs installs and also take care of techs paper work( make sure it was filled out properly before turning in) ...... That is what I had to do for the $10 I consider that labor.

You were a contract employee without a copy of the contract and you were a manager? Was this a large coporation threatened with class action suits?

I am not sure how large they are they supposedly are in 32+ cities in the US. They are one of the largest retailers for Directv according to them(it says that on their message when you call for info on purchasing a satellite system). I don't know of any lawsuits.

rmet4nzkx said:

Even if your posts were deleted they could be subpoenaed. What does your contract say, exact words, not your understanding.

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This is what the retention agreement says.

There is a holdback (retention) account for all (co. name inc) Independent representatives up to a maximum of $1500.00. The holdback may be satisfied either through a payroll deduction at a rate of 10 percent earned each pay period or a one time lump sum payment.

The holdback is held by the Company in the event of customer cancellations and/or money owed Company. Chargebacks are to be debited from the Independent Representative's commission check without regard for his or her retention account. If chargebacks occur whithin 90 days after the Independent Representative's separation from the company, the retention account will be debited. The retention account is not a source to borrow money and bears no financial accumulation of interest.

The retention account will paid in full, less any applicable deductions, 180 days after the independent agent's last install date. If the Independent representatives retention account does not cover all chargebacks and/or money owed, the independent agent will be billed for the balance.

Then it has a place to sign and print name.
If you notice it says commision and I took this to mean that if I made a sale and the customer cancelled early I would lose my sales comm. I only made a couple of sales the whole time I was there.
Note: Even though I was an installer my check stubs and all of the techs check stubs had pay listed as commision. The few sales I made were listed on the pay stubs as sales and my overrides $10 per install were listed as overrides.

I appreciate any help. This threat to sue me is worrying me bad that is why I am on this sight on Christmas Day.

bearfan said:

This is what the retention agreement says.

There is a holdback (retention) account for all (co. name inc) Independent representatives up to a maximum of $1500.00. The holdback may be satisfied either through a payroll deduction at a rate of 10 percent earned each pay period or a one time lump sum payment.

The holdback is held by the Company in the event of customer cancellations and/or money owed Company. Chargebacks are to be debited from the Independent Representative's commission check without regard for his or her retention account. If chargebacks occur whithin 90 days after the Independent Representative's separation from the company, the retention account will be debited. The retention account is not a source to borrow money and bears no financial accumulation of interest.

The retention account will paid in full, less any applicable deductions, 180 days after the independent agent's last install date. If the Independent representatives retention account does not cover all chargebacks and/or money owed, the independent agent will be billed for the balance.

Then it has a place to sign and print name.
If you notice it says commision and I took this to mean that if I made a sale and the customer cancelled early I would lose my sales comm. I only made a couple of sales the whole time I was there.
Note: Even though I was an installer my check stubs and all of the techs check stubs had pay listed as commision. The few sales I made were listed on the pay stubs as sales and my overrides $10 per install were listed as overrides.

I appreciate any help. This threat to sue me is worrying me bad that is why I am on this sight on Christmas Day.

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**A: you need to hire your own personal attorney. We can't help you online due to your circumstances and specific issues.

HomeGuru said:

**A: you need to hire your own personal attorney. We can't help you online due to your circumstances and specific issues.

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I hate to hear that but thanks anyway. Maybe to help ease my mind or trouble it worse do have any idea how long of a process it would be for him to have a suit filed against me. The site I was on was like this one where I had a screen name. Does it take a while to prove who wrote the posts. Wil they have to send something that states what I wrote that they are disputing. The reason I ask that is some of my comments they deleted and I deleted everything else I had on there. I'm not sure how I worded everything. I know most of the time I used phrases like "to me that's theft" or "the way I see it..."

bearfan said:

I hate to hear that but thanks anyway. Maybe to help ease my mind or trouble it worse do have any idea how long of a process it would be for him to have a suit filed against me. The site I was on was like this one where I had a screen name. Does it take a while to prove who wrote the posts. Wil they have to send something that states what I wrote that they are disputing. The reason I ask that is some of my comments they deleted and I deleted everything else I had on there. I'm not sure how I worded everything. I know most of the time I used phrases like "to me that's theft" or "the way I see it..."

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**A: sorry the FreeAdvice crystal ball is on vacation for the holidays.