Merchant wants to sue me for Deformation

[melody301]

Merchant wants to sue me for Defamation

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

I made a purchase online and paid for it with my credit card. After several weeks and many attempts to reach the merchant about not receiving the product, I contacted the BBB, Paypal's, and put a blog on Yahoo Answers about the company and advising people not to purchase from them because they take your money and not ship the products. Long story short, I finally received a refund but the merchant is threatening to sue me for defamation if I don't remove the post but nothing I said was a lie. As a matter of fact I closed out the blog stating "I requested a refund...we'll see if I actually get it." Can he sue me if I don't remove the post.

Second part to this story, again, after several attempts to reach this guy, I had my mother send an email (which she sent from her job) stating, "Please address before legal action is taken" with a copy of the invoice below. He is claiming legal actions against her for her using her work email to make threats of legal action. Never once did she state that she was an attorney or representing me or her company. Can he take legal actions against her? Mind you, if he can take legal actions against her, he doesn't have her home address only mine so can he send correspondences to my address about taking legal action against her?

 

[quincy]

You should remove the blog.

You may not have gotten your merchandise from this merchant and it took you a while to get your refund, and stating those facts is perfectly legal and fine. However, to make a generalization about this company and their business practices - saying the company takes your money and does not ship the products - is defamatory if false. You can only express what you know to be true - and you do not know the company always operates this way, even when they did in your case.

So, yes, this merchant and this company can sue for defamation over what you wrote.

Also, if your mother works for an attorney or a law firm and sent this merchant an email using an attorney's or law firm's letterhead, when in fact this attorney or his firm is not representing you, that is unethical and illegal. Your mother misrepresented herself by implying she was an attorney.

Addresses, by the way, are not hard to obtain, if this company and/or merchant decides to sue your mother or you.

The odds are, however, this merchant won't sue - if you remove the blog. It really depends on how his reputation has been affected by your comments, and how much (if any) business he has lost as a result. The expense involved in bringing a defamation action, especially one of this sort, is a big deterrant to most people. In addition, he does not have a slam-dunk winnable case by any means - seeing as how he did not send you the merchandise and you made several attempts to reach him without success, prior to getting your refund.

Bottom line: Yes, he can sue you, and he can sue your mother. However, he probably won't. If he does, at least your mother works for a firm that can assist.

 

[melody301]

Thank you so very much. Your insight was very informative and just the answer I needed. Just to clarify, my mother does not work for a law firm. She just used her job email to send the message to the merchant. He is threatening to sue the organization she works for because she used their email account. I'm not sure how far he'll get with it since she only said: "Please respond before legal action is taken." I didn't take her comment to imply she was representing me as an attorney but for whatever reason the merchant did.

 

[quincy]

From what you have posted here, I cannot see that the merchant has any real chance of bringing a successful action against your mother or her organization, as long as she did not imply she was an attorney and the company she works for is not a law firm (however if your mother is not supposed to use company email for personal communication, she may hear about it from her employer).

You should definitely consult with a lawyer should you get any communication from this merchant that indicates he has hired an attorney to represent him in a defamation action or, obviously, if you hear from any attorney that he has hired.

I honestly don't think, from what you have posted here, that you, or your mother, have to worry about a lawsuit over this, but sometimes people do surprising things.

Good luck.