Post Dismissal - Possible that Plaintiff wrote "libelous" material. What can I do?

[KITT45]

Post Dismissal - Possible that Plaintiff wrote "libelous" material. What can I do?

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

Bear with me. I'm obviously not a lawyer, so I'll do my best to explain this to you intellectual superiors . I was a defendant in a libel/slander case in Kansas a little over a year ago which also included a counterclaim by me against the plaintiff. The plaintiff's claim (and, obviously my counterclaim) was dismissed with prejudice as a settlement was reached. However, some new circumstances regarding one of the exhibits in the plaintiff's original petition have arisen which I find suspicious. Well, they're not "new" as in recent, but they weren't discovered until well after the case was dismissed. This exhibit was an internet posting that the plaintiff deemed libelous which I did not write, yet he still accused me of doing such. However, these "new" circumstances seem to indicate that it could've actually been the plaintiff that wrote this. In addition, by the time we had reached mediation, this exhibit was the only internet post the plaintiff could still claim to contain libelous material as the rest of his accusations had already been successfully refuted. We had actually requested the plaintiff trace the post to prove who it was but the plaintiff did not do so. When we really started pushing for a trace was at the same time he wanted to settle. Anyway, here are the circumstances:
- The plaintiff had a case filed against him in the New York Supreme Civil Court.
- The "libelous" posting was written exactly 7 days AFTER the opposing party filed a Request for Judicial Intervention.
- The profile for the user that wrote this review claimed he/she was in New York, NY (again, I was residing in Kansas as was the Plaintiff and it would make absolutely no sense for me to claim I was from New York had I written the posting).
- The amount which the opposing party was awarded (and I believe it was what they originally claimed in damages) in the NY case was nearly the exact same five-figured amount the plaintiff was trying to sue me for.
- The posting contained information which only the plaintiff would've known at the time (for example, it mentioned that he was having tax problems).
- The plaintiff never ended up paying the judgment, so the opposing party ended up filing (fairly recently) for a foreign judgment here in Kansas. The foreign judgment filing occurred AFTER our case was dismissed and he had paid what he was ordered to per the settlement agreement.

Since the case has been dismissed, can this be brought to the court's attention? If so, what charges can be brought against the plaintiff assuming it be traced back to him?

And if you're asking why I'm even bothering with this, it's because the plaintiff has tried multiple times to accuse me of violating a term in our settlement agreement. He forfeited a lot of money to settle our case which I'm sure he'd like to somehow get back. So, in the event that he would actually decide to proceed with taking some sort of action through the courts, I would like to not only be able to defend myself with the obvious "prove it was me," but I would also like to have something to counter with if possible.

 

[KITT45]

A few things previously not mentioned which may need to be noted -

This case was a business & its owner vs. a consumer (me). The business intentionally wronged the consumer and the consumer consequently wrote about the ordeal on the internet as it was a matter of public interest (it involved the business counterfeiting luxury goods, but selling them to the unsuspecting public as authentic). The business then attempted to sue the consumer for libel/slander despite evidence in which the plaintiff admitted - in writing - to the actions which were being written about. This was even presented as an exhibit in my counterclaim, yet the plaintiff decided to continue pursuing his claim for nearly a year before deciding to settle.

The review in question was written roughly 2 weeks before the plaintiff filed the claim with the courts. Also, the date in the corner of his exhibits was dated just 5 days after the review was written which was most likely the same date he submitted it to his attorney. No other review or posting had been written about this business 3 months prior to this review in question being posted. I found it interesting that he would go over 3 months without any indication of wanting to take action (no cease and desist, no questions if I was even the one writing the postings.....nothing at any point), but within a matter of a few weeks a lawsuit is filed against him in New York, a new posting shows up (3 months after the last one was written about the business), and he files a lawsuit.

Another interesting tidbit. His "proof" that I wrote the reviews written 3 months prior was an e-mail from someone claiming to be a representative of the web site used to post the reviews. This person not only wasn't capable of spelling my first and last name correctly, but he never offered his proof that I was the one writing the reviews. Also, the representative's e-mail address in the "header" fields of the e-mail was different from the e-mail address listed at the end of his e-mail. For example, the e-mail address at the top of the page was [email protected], and the e-mail address at the bottom of the page was [email protected]. To my knowledge, the . and _ characters are recognized as completely different in the world wide web. The rep also said the reviews were "slanderous" without any knowledge of the situation. And, this rep was untrackable (almost like he didn't exist) when my attorney tried to contact him.

It was believed that the business owner was writing postings written in the form of positive customer reviews about his business and even himself. The belief was based on the username of a reviewer being the exact same as the owner's personal e-mail address on hotmail. And the name was something that could not merely be something coincidental. This review was also the very first review the business ever received. My belief is - if he has no shame in writing "deceptive" reviews to help his business (giving the impression that he is a satisfied customer), then what would stop him from writing postings to help his potential lawsuit?

 

[swalsh411]

It was dismissed with prejudice and a settlement was reached. The matter is closed. If you're not violating the terms of the settlement then you have nothing to worry about. I would cease all contact with this person.

 

[KITT45]

Thanks, swalsh!

I guess with my long rant, I should probably clear up that I'm not going to be bringing this action up against him unprovoked. I'm sure it's just paranoia, but since this guy has tried multiple times to claim I violated the settlement agreement combined with how I now believe he actually wrote the posting that he was trying to sue me for - I wouldn't put it past him to do something like that to try and go after me for violating the agreement. Should that happen, then I wanted to know if I can bring these new circumstances to the court's attention eventhough it would be regarding a matter that was a part of the dismissed case.