Liability of referring to vehicle as a lemon

[AmosMoses]

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

I got into a disagreement with two cousins of mine, and I was wondering if some of you guys and/or girls could settle it. My cousins both said that it was "against the law" to put a picture of a lemon on a vehicle that was giving you trouble. They both said that there had been a successful lawsuit wherein a local guy had done this, simply put a picture of a lemon on his vehicle, and was successfully sued to remove it. Not a liened vehicle, mind you, one purchased outright. And, if it matters, the fellow in question had MANY problems with the vehicle, which would only strengthen my argument to my notion. I clarified in saying that this was referring to a lost lawsuit, not an agreement to remove the picture. Both claimed that a guy was successfully sued by a car dealer for this, and he lost. They both said that if I wanted to put a picture of a lemon on my car, case law exists that says I can't. . . No defamatory remarks, in fact no remarks at all, just a big depiction of a lemon. I say that's bull, even if my car runs like a charm. I looked everywhere I could and could find no reference to such, but it's kinda hard to prove a negative simply with an absence of a positive.

 

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

What is the name of your state? Louisiana

I got into a disagreement with two cousins of mine, and I was wondering if some of you guys and/or girls could settle it. My cousins both said that it was "against the law" to put a picture of a lemon on a vehicle that was giving you trouble. They both said that there had been a successful lawsuit wherein a local guy had done this, simply put a picture of a lemon on his vehicle, and was successfully sued to remove it. Not a liened vehicle, mind you, one purchased outright. And, if it matters, the fellow in question had MANY problems with the vehicle, which would only strengthen my argument to my notion. I clarified in saying that this was referring to a lost lawsuit, not an agreement to remove the picture. Both claimed that a guy was successfully sued by a car dealer for this, and he lost. They both said that if I wanted to put a picture of a lemon on my car, case law exists that says I can't. . . No defamatory remarks, in fact no remarks at all, just a big depiction of a lemon. I say that's bull, even if my car runs like a charm. I looked everywhere I could and could find no reference to such, but it's kinda hard to prove a negative simply with an absence of a positive.

My response:

Of course you can be sued - - in today's society, you can be sued for nearly anything. The problem is whether you have enough money to "defend" such a ridiculous lawsuit. And assuming you do have enough money, of course, your cousins are wrong. That's because you have a First Amendment right to say whatever you want about a product, as long as it's your "opinion" or an actual statement of "fact."

The dividing factor is always the "money factor." That's probably why, in your cousin's example, the car owner lost his case - - because he didn't have the money, or didn't have enough money to continue the litigation.

Sometimes, an issue isn't worth the money that will necessarily be expended to prove a point.

IAAL

 

[AmosMoses]

My apologies.....I guess I didn't phrase that correctly. My question was if there was ever a successful suit in which this happened. I searched every available resource that I was aware of, and saw no reference to such litigation. I do realize that you can be sued for anything, and I did not mean to imply that I was questioning whether or not you could bring a case today against this sort of thing, or if you could look to do so in the future. I've got 50 bucks riding on whether or not a successful suit has been brought in the past. Like I stated earlier, I could find no reference to any case, but me being unable to find the existence of one is not an acceptible proof of its absolute absence, especially considering that I don't know how to properly search for something like this. For all I know, there may be no practical way to check this out, but I thought maybe some of ya'll had access to some sort of database(s) that store info of this kind. Thanks for the help!

 

[HomeGuru]

Collect your 50 bucks and send IAAL and myself $25. Each of course.
There are no cases that I have found. In fact, I was even involved in 2 cases whereby one homeowner painted a huge lemon on the front of their home and another placed a sign of a huge lemon in their front yard.
They were telling everyone that their newly purchased homes were full of construction defects that the builder refused to fix.
Such actions constituted their right of free speech.

 

[AmosMoses]

Home Guru and IAAL

Hey, I'm not a math whiz, but after those two $25 payoffs, that doesn't leave too much for yours truly?!? Thanks a bundle, it's really apppreciated! Your checks are in the mail! (Ever heard that one before?...it's right up there with "Trust me")

 

[HomeGuru]

Re: Home Guru and IAAL

Hey, I'm not a math whiz, but after those two $25 payoffs, that doesn't leave too much for yours truly?!? Thanks a bundle, it's really apppreciated! Your checks are in the mail! (Ever heard that one before?...it's right up there with "Trust me")

**A: that's a lesson for you to learn. Always bet more than fifty bucks.