Cease and Desist response

[Jewels2]

What is the name of your state (MI)?

I made a negative review about a company online and also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I believed the company's reply to my BBB complaint was not honest and I stated such. I also said the company had acted unprofessionally and unethically. I still believe this to be true. I have now received a cease and desist letter from the company's attorney, which must be sent in MI before one can file suit. How should I respond to this letter?

 

[Proserpina]

What is the name of your state (MI)?

I made a negative review about a company online and also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau. I believed the company's reply to my BBB complaint was not honest and I stated such. I also said the company had acted unprofessionally and unethically. I still believe this to be true. I have now received a cease and desist letter from the company's attorney, which must be sent in MI before one can file suit. How should I respond to this letter?

Without being able to see what you wrote, it's difficult to make suggestions.

You can always take the letter, and what you wrote, to an attorney for review.

 

[Jewels2]

The company is saying that the remark that their reply was not honest and that they acted unprofessionally and unethically is defamation. That is what they are citing in the cease and desist letter.

 

[Proserpina]

The company is saying that the remark that their reply was not honest and that they acted unprofessionally and unethically is defamation. That is what they are citing in the cease and desist letter.

The C&D is not a legally enforceable object; they are very often sent to "scare" someone into complying with their wishes.

However it's still possible for you to be sued if you don't remove the comments. Perhaps your best bet is to simply remove or amend the review, forget about the company and instead show your disapproval by taking your business elsewhere.

 

[swalsh411]

You should not respond to the letter.

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (MI)?
. . . I have now received a cease and desist letter from the company's attorney, which must be sent in MI before one can file suit. How should I respond to this letter?

Jewels2, it is not quite correct that in Michigan a cease and desist letter must be sent before a suit can be filed.

A person or entity defamed in Michigan can still recover actual damages suffered even if a cease and desist notice to retract defamatory statements is not made.

However, if a notice to retract (a cease and desist) is sent prior to filing suit, the defamed plaintiff can be entitled to an award of exemplary (punitive) damages. If a retraction is made by the defendant upon receipt of notice (or within a reasonable time after receipt), this will demonstrate a good faith effort by the defendant to mitigate harm and will also work to mitigate any damages awarded.

You can respond to the letter by retracting your statements (with the retraction mimicking the size and placement of the original statements), or you can do nothing and perhaps be sued and perhaps allow the plaintiffs to collect a greater award of damages due to your failure to retract what you wrote.

You have some defenses to any defamation claim filed against you (for example, the provable truth of what you wrote).

You are best advised to have an attorney in your area review exactly what you wrote that caused the cease and desist to be sent to you in the first place, before responding to the notice. The attorney can help guide you in deciding what is your best response to the notice.

See MCL 600.2911 for Michigan law.

Good luck.

 

[Jewels2]

Thanks for the explanations. What is considered a reasonable amount of time to reply?

 

[quincy]

Thanks for the explanations. What is considered a reasonable amount of time to reply?

It depends. Probably some time before you and the company wind up in court, though.

I suggest you have everything reviewed by an attorney in your area. The attorney can tell you if you have a clear defense or not against any libel claim. If your comments were placed on what is an obvious review site and your comments are supported well enough with your personal experiences that they can be looked at as opinions or truthful facts instead of false facts and libel, you may have a legitimate defense. This defense can be used in court, of course (if the matter gets that far), but it can also potentially be used by you to stop any legal action from proceeding against you.

As a note, accusing a business of being unethical and unprofessional is generally not a wise thing to do.

Generalizing about a company in a review of the company, based on a single experience, often makes the entire review false. You cannot often prove that everyone else has had the same bad experience with the company as you have.

A good bad review should only relate the facts, or pure opinions, of one's own one bad experience with a company, and then leave it for the readers of the review to draw their own conclusions about the company. The writer of a review should never draw any conclusions for the readers.

What you will want to do is have your response to the notice tailored appropriately. What your next step should be, and how best to tailor your response, will be easier to determine after a professional has had the opportunity to personally review all of the facts.

Good luck.