Can I be sued for defamation for sharing on Facebook?

[Vettechmnm]

Florida
My former employer is suing me for $15,000 for sharing my personal experiences (100% true) and pictures and articles about the organization on Facebook which were already available on the internet for public viewing. I simply clicked on the blue "F" link at the top of articles' page to share them to Facebook and did not think there was anything wrong with doing so or else why would the link to "share it to Facebook" even be there in the first place? To the best of my knowledge, the information contained in the articles was true and accurate because they originated from websites of credible organizations such as The Humane Society of the United States and various local and national news organizations. My shares have received many likes and many subsequent shares by others and my former employer states in the complaint that my posts will cause them to lose revenue because they do not reflect well on the organizations public image. They do not want their unethical and illegal business practices exposed any more than they have already been and that's why that area suing me. I don't have dont have any money to retain an attorney so I will have to handle it on my own in court. Is it defamation even the content posted is true and accurate and was already on the internet anyway?

Thanks...

 

[quincy]

Florida
My former employer is suing me for $15,000 for sharing my personal experiences (100% true) and pictures and articles about the organization on Facebook which were already available on the internet for public viewing. I simply clicked on the blue "F" link at the top of articles' page to share them to Facebook and did not think there was anything wrong with doing so or else why would the link to "share it to Facebook" even be there in the first place? To the best of my knowledge, the information contained in the articles was true and accurate because they originated from websites of credible organizations such as The Humane Society of the United States and various local and national news organizations. My shares have received many likes and many subsequent shares by others and my former employer states in the complaint that my posts will cause them to lose revenue because they do not reflect well on the organizations public image. They do not want their unethical and illegal business practices exposed any more than they have already been and that's why that area suing me. I don't have dont have any money to retain an attorney so I will have to handle it on my own in court. Is it defamation even the content posted is true and accurate and was already on the internet anyway?

Thanks...

Defamation is a false statement of fact that harms a reputation. If a statement is true, it is not defamation.

However, even publishing true statements can result in lawsuits (e.g., false light, tortious interference, invasion of privacy ...).

If you have been served with a summons and complaint, you would be smart to hire an attorney to help with a defense to the claim.

Here is a link to an overview of Florida defamation laws, published by the Digital Media Law Project (2014):
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/florida-defamation-law
As a note: Re-publishing the defamatory statements made by others is still defamation. Each new publication can cause additional harm to a reputation as it spreads the defamatory statements to a new audience. A re-publisher of defamatory statements can be sued for defamation just as the original creator of the defamatory statements can be.

For reference purposes only, here is a link to your other thread:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/do-i-need-to-file-a-charge-with-the-eeoc-and-get-a-right-to-sue-letter.656595/

 

[Vettechmnm]

Defamation is a false statement of fact that harms a reputation. If a statement is true, it is not defamation.

However, even publishing true statements can result in lawsuits (e.g., false light, tortious interference, invasion of privacy ...).

If you have been served with a summons and complaint, you would be smart to hire an attorney to help with a defense to the claim.

Here is a link to an overview of Florida defamation laws, published by the Digital Media Law Project (2014):
http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/florida-defamation-law
As a note: Re-publishing the defamatory statements made by others is still defamation. Each new publication can cause additional harm to a reputation as it spreads the defamatory statements to a new audience. A re-publisher of defamatory statements can be sued for defamation just as the original creator of the defamatory statements can be.

For reference purposes only, here is a link to your other thread:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/threads/do-i-need-to-file-a-charge-with-the-eeoc-and-get-a-right-to-sue-letter.656595/

Thank your for explaining that to me. I am somewhat confused however, as to why it would be illegal to repost truthful, accurate articles found on the internet under other laws such as those you mentioned because are we not allowed to exercise our right to freedom of speech on, of all places, our own facebook pages? Some of the posts shared were inspection reports from the USDA which outlined numerous violations which could have the potential to cause readers to form a negative opinion about my former place of employment. The reports we're obtained from the USDA website and are publicly available for anyone to see. If the information is already out there but casts my employer in a bad light then are your saying i could get In trouble for sharing even if the info is correct?
It seems to me that by webpages placing a link to share almost everything on facebook they are facilitating actions that once shared could potentially open the door to a lawsuit from others who don't have the same viewpoints.

 

[LdiJ]

Thank your for explaining that to me. I am somewhat confused however, as to why it would be illegal to repost truthful, accurate articles found on the internet under other laws such as those you mentioned because are we not allowed to exercise our right to freedom of speech on, of all places, our own facebook pages? Some of the posts shared were inspection reports from the USDA which outlined numerous violations which could have the potential to cause readers to form a negative opinion about my former place of employment. The reports we're obtained from the USDA website and are publicly available for anyone to see. If the information is already out there but casts my employer in a bad light then are your saying i could get In trouble for sharing even if the info is correct?
It seems to me that by webpages placing a link to share almost everything on facebook they are facilitating actions that once shared could potentially open the door to a lawsuit from others who don't have the same viewpoints.

The USDA reports would probably be considered as factual by a judge, and therefore not defamatory. However normally, for someone to see a USDA report they would have to go looking for it...and specifically looking for it in reference to your former employer. By you reposting it on facebook you make it more widely seen by people who would normally never see it. Therefore there is some chance it could be actionable as something other than defamation.

The reality of things however is your employer knows that you don't have any real money, they just want you to remove anything you said about them, stop talking about them at all, and they want to send a message to other employees not to post things about them either.

 

[quincy]

Thank your for explaining that to me. I am somewhat confused however, as to why it would be illegal to repost truthful, accurate articles found on the internet under other laws such as those you mentioned because are we not allowed to exercise our right to freedom of speech on, of all places, our own facebook pages? Some of the posts shared were inspection reports from the USDA which outlined numerous violations which could have the potential to cause readers to form a negative opinion about my former place of employment. The reports we're obtained from the USDA website and are publicly available for anyone to see. If the information is already out there but casts my employer in a bad light then are your saying i could get In trouble for sharing even if the info is correct?
It seems to me that by webpages placing a link to share almost everything on facebook they are facilitating actions that once shared could potentially open the door to a lawsuit from others who don't have the same viewpoints.

It would not necessarily be links to government reports that you (or anyone else) would have to worry about. It is often what is said to your audience (readers, listeners) about the content linked to - in way of introducing or summing up the information - that can be a concern.

For example: If you linked only to USDA inspection reports showing company violations over the years, and ignored all inspection reports showing USDA compliance and no violations or violation-corrections, you could be painting a false picture of the company. It would be a false picture even if all that you posted was true.

I have not seen what you have posted on Facebook. I only know that you have said your former employer is suing you for defamation over the contents of your Facebook page. Obviously your former employer found what you published objectionable.

Your former employer must prove in court that you published false statements that injured the company reputation, and that you did so without the due care a reasonable person would have taken to determine truth or falsity.

You have a few possible defenses to the defamation claim, including truth or substantial truth.

I know you said you cannot afford an attorney. You might want to seek out a legal aid clinic for a personal review of what you published, to better determine if your former employer has a lawsuit with merit.

Good luck.

 

[ALawyer]

It would seem that by filing suit your former employer is seeking to intimidate you and others from saying things, or repeating things that others say, which place it in a bad light -- whether justifiably or not. The type of case you are describing seems to fall into the category of SLAPP cases (Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation) -- legal actions brought against concerned citizens who speaking out on issues of concern to the public to silence its critics. In such lawsuits, the plaintiff sues a speaker or publisher alleging defamation not for the purpose of recovering damages, but to intimidate the target into silence by the sheer burden and expense of having to defend the suit. In such a case the plaintiff “wins” by attacking your First Amendment rights. Florida has an anti-SLAPP statute and if it applies, if you or a lawyer on your behalf makes the appropriate motions a court can quickly end the case.

To the extent that what you said, or republished, is truthful, and the context in which you said or republished it is not misleading, it would NOT be defamation. Nonetheless, having to defend yourself from a defamation action can be costly.

The good news is that if you prevail YOU might have a very good suit against the former employer for malicious prosecution of its suit against you. Malicious prosecution consists of intentionally instituting and/or pursuing a legal action brought without probable cause that is dismissed. And unlike you, your former employer seems to have deep pockets. If you could demonstrate your former employer has a pattern of bringing defamation suits against others that are dismissed, that could be a very helpful fact that would support your eventual claim.

Of course your employer knows all that, and its lawyers know that it is extremely hard and expensive for a layperson to defend him/herself in court against a team of lawyers. Merely by missing one of many procedural deadlines or pleading traps, or failing to submit paperwork or make a motion on time, or to object to outrageous discovery demands, you could either severely prejudice your chances or even lose the case real early on essentially procedural grounds, before any court gets to the merits (or lack of merits in your case) of the case.

Some suggestions:

1. Try to see if you can retain a lawyer to represent you and even though you may not be able to pay him/her now, you could assign your rights to what I suspect could be a successful malicious prosecution case to the lawyer.

2. There likely is a legal referral program run by the county bar association in your area where you can speak with a lawyer for a low fee. Alternatively, if there is a law school in your area, it likely has a law clinic and a matter like yours might be right up its alley as the subject matter is typically covered in all first year law classes.

3. The former employer wants to avoid publicity and to keep the facts hidden. While your posting likely had a fairly limited audience, it is possible the law suit could generate a spotlight on its bad practices. Indeed, one of the negotiating points I as a lawyer would make (and this is NOT something YOU should do or threaten on your own) is that if the employer does not immediately drop the case and reimburse you for the fee you are paying me, I would go to my contacts in the media and because I am a credible resource, as sure as the sun rises in the East, the employer can be sure a reporter will research the facts, and the subsequent news stories or broadcasts about the lawsuit that will disclose the underlying facts and generate far more negative publicity for the employer than your posting ever did.

Good luck!

 

[quincy]

An anti-SLAPP action in Florida may or may not help Vettechmnm. The content of the online postings need to be reviewed. Vettechmnm does not want to file an anti-SLAPP motion without good cause. If Vettechmnm is unsuccessful with an anti-SLAPP motion, the court can award the other party (reasonable) attorney fees and costs.

Here is a link to a June 19, 2019, appeals court decision that demonstrates the challenges a defendant can face in Florida when trying to show a lawsuit is a SLAPP suit: https://www.4dca.org/content/download/527452/5859665/file/181221_1257_06192019_09145984_i.pdf

One anti-SLAPP statute in Florida applies only to homeowners and one generally applies to SLAPPs filed by the government (although the statute was recently amended and expanded to include individuals).

Fla Stat 768.295: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0768/Sections/0768.295.html

Fla Stat 718.1224: http://www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0718/Sections/0718.1224.html

Again, because a lawsuit has already been filed, a legal professional should personally review the published content to better determine where Vettechmnm stands legally.

 

[Vettechmnm]

Florida
My former employer is suing me for $15,000 for sharing my personal experiences (100% true) and pictures and articles about the organization on Facebook which were already available on the internet for public viewing. I simply clicked on the blue "F" link at the top of articles' page to share them to Facebook and did not think there was anything wrong with doing so or else why would the link to "share it to Facebook" even be there in the first place? To the best of my knowledge, the information contained in the articles was true and accurate because they originated from websites of credible organizations such as The Humane Society of the United States and various local and national news organizations. My shares have received many likes and many subsequent shares by others and my former employer states in the complaint that my posts will cause them to lose revenue because they do not reflect well on the organizations public image. They do not want their unethical and illegal business practices exposed any more than they have already been and that's why that area suing me. I don't have dont have any money to retain an attorney so I will have to handle it on my own in court. Is it defamation even the content posted is true and accurate and was already on the internet anyway?

Thanks...

All reply postings made very good points and a few of them hot the mail I the head when they said my former employer filed the lawsuit for defamation for other, more underlying reasons than. defamation. I have been trying to collect my insidious wages for the past year without success. I am owed almost $2000. Somehow, my employer's attorney managed to convince my attorney to play for their team, probably by placing him tn their deep pockets along with some judges and others. My attorney, who was so eager to take on my case and sent an excellent demand letter at the end of last year, stalled any progress on my case for over 9 months, avoided my calls and emails and ignored questions I asked pertaining to my car case. He also tried to discourage me when I expressed interest in proceeding with litigation. The facts of my case are very straightforward and I have overwhelming evidence I support of my claims where as my employer has nothing to provide I their defense. I am not afraid of taking it to court and am confident in the merits of my case to result in a favorable verdict for me. After over 9 months of no progress, my attorney told me they were not interested in negotiating a settlement and still wanted more time to see if he could convince them otherwise. I thought 9 months was long enough to. spend only to find out my employer wasnt the least bit interested I resolving. When I remained persistent In my desire to proceed with litigation, my attorney said he did see the same value of my case as I did and that if I didn't do what he said I could find myself another attorney. We agreed to give it till the end of the month and reaccess then, but the next day he removed himself from the case. Despite the clear Ana straightforward facts of my case and solid evidence to support my claims, I have not been able to find any other attorneys to take my case. The deadline to file a complaint with Florida Dept of Human Relations passed within two weeks of his withdrawal and now I can't file with them. All of the deadlines for filing with various agencies have past and he never advised me of anywhere I should file to get;help to recover my wages. And because I continue to try and find new representation and have not given up on my efforts to continue to recover my wages and any other applicable awards, they filed the lawsuit against me for defamation as a way of either intimidating me to back off, or to distract me from the employment case, or to punish me for my persistence and therefore cause me to give up because they know that if I can get my case into court. And oh front of a judge who pant I their pocket as well, they don't stand a chance against the my claims and evidence against them. It is looking like I will have to go to court pro se because no one wants to touch my case after the mess the two attorneys created and left for me to deal with on my own.
If anyone has any input as to whether I should file the complaintin federal of state court, please advise. Thank you for reading and for taking the time to reply with your input....

 

[quincy]

I think you are going to have a very difficult time trying to handle your defense to the defamation lawsuit on your own. I am sorry you were unable to reach a settlement with the employer, even with your first attorney's help.

I recommend you continue to search for another attorney, preferably one well-versed in defamation laws and anti-SLAPP actions. You can follow the suggestions made by ALawyer above in searching for an attorney to assist you.

A court in Florida has held that the anti-SLAPP statute applies only when a claim against the defendant has NO merit and the lawsuit serves only to silence a critic. I am afraid that your history with your former employer alone might thwart an attempt by you to get the defamation action against you dismissed, if there is anything at all in what you published that can be viewed as defamatory.

But a personal review of exactly what you published, and the facts of why you published it, will be necessary. We cannot do personal reviews here.

Good luck.

 

[Vettechmnm]

Thanks so much to all of your for your very informative and knowledgeable replies. I have a couple more details to add to the situation and if you wouldn't mind sharing your thoughts on them I would greatly appreciate it....
The defamation complaint is for one photograph that was posted on the Facebook page about a year ago but was removed shortly thereafter due to the question of whether that picture was applicable to my former employer or not, where everything else on the page had been verified to be true and correct. The picture they complain about is actually on another Facebook page also pertaining to my former employer, a page that has been running on Facebook for two years prior to mine. The fact that they are suing me for the brief posting of a picture since removed, rather than the other page who had the picture on the page the right now lends to my belief that they are only suing me as a means of punishing me, deterring me, or distracting me from my ongoing pursuit of unpaid wages and wrongful termination claims. Furthermore, the Facebook page in question is administrated by someone else who is responsible for putting content on and off the page. I am only a moderator on the page with limited capabilities and am not responsible for the actual posting of content on the page. How do these factors affect the case against me? Please advise... Thanks for your time once again!

 

[quincy]

... The defamation complaint is for one photograph that was posted on the Facebook page about a year ago but was removed shortly thereafter due to the question of whether that picture was applicable to my former employer or not, where everything else on the page had been verified to be true and correct. The picture they complain about is actually on another Facebook page also pertaining to my former employer, a page that has been running on Facebook for two years prior to mine. The fact that they are suing me for the brief posting of a picture since removed, rather than the other page who had the picture on the page the right now lends to my belief that they are only suing me as a means of punishing me, deterring me, or distracting me from my ongoing pursuit of unpaid wages and wrongful termination claims. Furthermore, the Facebook page in question is administrated by someone else who is responsible for putting content on and off the page. I am only a moderator on the page with limited capabilities and am not responsible for the actual posting of content on the page. How do these factors affect the case against me? Please advise... Thanks for your time once again!

If you are not responsible for creating or posting the content on the website, the plaintiff will have a difficult time with his defamation claim.

Following is a link to the Communications Decency Act section 230 (47 US Code 230) which provides (in some circumstances) a protection from suit to those who only host defamatory content but do not help create it or encourage it's creation. This may or may not apply to you and the publication of the photo you say is the basis for the defamation suit.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/230
Again I encourage you to see an attorney in your area for a personal review, advice, and direction.

We all appreciate the thanks, Vettechmnm, so thank you.