Harrasment/libel/slander?

[doglover21]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Virginia

I realize this is probably not a unique situation, but I'm posting in the hopes I can receive some recommendations on a way to put a stop to this......

My husband had a 4 year affair with a woman in another state, which ended back in January due to her sending an "anonymous" letter to me in the mail, which we later determined was from her.

Subsequently, after my husband repeatedly told her not to contact him anymore, she contiinued. I finally got fed up and phoned the woman's husband to inform him of the affair and to ask him to please make sure she does not contact my husband or me anymore.

That same day, this woman left a horrific, venomous, harassing message on my cell phone, which still 8 months later I am emotionally devastated by, followed by a package in the mail a few days later with gifts my husband had purchased for her and a letter from her with further harrasing words and emotionally damaging content.

My husband and I have both purposely NOT responded in any way, shape or form to any of her actions to date. A few months after the package, she started sending my husband little texts, which again he ignored. She then left a long note in a public forum on a reunion site
with further damaging info, followed by a few more texts to my husband.

Apparently someone posted her name on a "cheaters" website, and she automatically assumed it was me, which it was not. She then left a threatening voice mail on my husband's cell a week ago saying she would have her husband start putting slanderous info about my husband online which would "hurt his future employment."

She then turned around and instead posted MY name and EXTREMELY damaging, slanderous, untrue information about me on 2 "cheating" websites that I'm aware of, and most likely several more.

We are now at the point where we feel we must do something to stop this craziness, however we are NOT in a financial position to sustain a lengthy legal battle, nor do we want to go through the emotional upheaval that would surely result from it. We have ignored, ignored, ignored, as adviced by psychologists in dealing with a disturbed person such as this, but she obviously is hell bent on ruining one or both of our lives.

I have an online business that is national and international and her slanderous, damaging posts will eventually start working their way up my google ranking and become problematic for me if they haven't already.

I would greatly appreciate any recommendations for this very troubling and upsetting situation.

Thanks in advance!

 

[quincy]

You have a few options here.

One is to have an attorney draft a cease-and-desist letter to this woman, telling her that if she does not remove the defamatory postings, refrain from posting anything further, and cease all contact with you and your husband, you will be pursuing legal action against her.

A cease-and-desist letter does not have to be from an attorney, however the impact is greater, and the woman will know that you have consulted an attorney about the situation and are intent on having the situation with her resolved, by legal means if necessary. This could scare her into stopping her current actions and make her correct her past actions.

A cease-and-desist letter has no legal force - it is just a letter warning that legal action may be taken in the future - so she can ignore the letter if she so chooses, and she can continue defaming you. Most people will, in fact, cease and desist. They will realize the seriousness of what they are doing, the potential costs involved should you decide to sue, and they will stop.

If she does not stop, you could file for a restraining order. If she is in a different state, however, the court may be unwilling to issue one. You will need to prove that an order is vital or greater harm could result. Because this would be a court order, if she violates the order she could be arrested and jailed.

You could also contact the websites involved and have them remove the defamatory content. They may not do this without a court order, however. If that is the case, you could go to court with evidence of the defamatory content appearing on these websites and indications of reputational injury suffered as a result of this content, and the court can issue an order to the website to have the content deleted.

Many courts will not issue such an order until you have filed a defamation action against the poster(s) of the content.

A defamation action, while seemingly possible with what you have posted, would be extremely expensive and require the services of an attorney. You could certainly consult an attorney about bringing a libel suit, should you find this woman's actions are becoming too damaging to your online business and your reputation and there is no other way to get the matter resolved.

Good luck.