statewide publication

[abell]

What is the name of your state? TX
Although I live in TX an article was published in a New Mexico publication that states that I "pestered" some folks into a business deal. I do business on a national level involving horses (sales, training, purchasing, and the saddles and tack) and this article was brought to my attention by someone that I have not personally met but that knows me from an internet forum after seeing my name. Is this libel?
Alan Bell

 

[quincy]

From the sounds of it, no.

 

[HomeGuru]

What is the name of your state? TX
Although I live in TX an article was published in a New Mexico publication that states that I "pestered" some folks into a business deal. I do business on a national level involving horses (sales, training, purchasing, and the saddles and tack) and this article was brought to my attention by someone that I have not personally met but that knows me from an internet forum after seeing my name. Is this libel?
Alan Bell

**A: what exactly was published and was it true?

 

[abell]

Here is a paste of an email I was sent that is part of the article in question:
"From: Farewell to the Lovelace - For Now by Tom Bryant, p. 10-11 Sept 2007 The Horseman's Voice
The Challenge
The last time we had gathered these horses was in 2000 and it was something of a wreck. A Texas cowboy named Alan Bell pestered the McKinleys until they gave him permission to gather some of the horses. Well, the gather went well as the McKinleys - who have 50 years' experience working with these horses - took charge of the roundup and eased a bunch into the Romero corrals. And that gather produced an interesting bonus for the McKinleys: the retrieval of two saddle horses - one a kid's pony named Dinkey - that had been driven off by stallions from the Lovelace Ranch years before.

After the horses were corralled, they were sorted, and the ones Alan selected were loaded into trailers and trucked to the Lovelace. There Alan and his crew roped the horses and started the gentling process.

The sad part of the project was that Alan had planned to sell some of the horses to finance his trip and had advertised heavily. But no buyers appeared. He ended up hauling the horses to Texas, keeping some, and giving some away. It takes a lot of time and patience to tame a wild horse, and not many people today have the knowledge, the time, or the facilities to get it done. They make awful good mounts but require a lot of time and energy to make that transition from running wild and free to becoming a trusty, reliable mount." -
No it is not true and I have recieved 2 emails from folks that know of me but that do not actually know me asking if I am the person mentioned in the article! The family in question was going to gather the horses in order to cull or thin out the herd. I had inquired 2 yrs prior about purchasing some of their horses (I have the letter of response to that initiall inquiry postmarked 9/1997) In 1999 they informed me of the coming gather and I offered to stage an auction in exchange for some of their horses. I feel the article impunes my reputation as a horseman and a buyer/seller. While he has the basic story correct all his details are wrong and can run down the list of those too! He makes it sound as if I simply kept their horses and did as I pleased with them and that is not the truth. The McKinley family would back my version of it and there are other witness too.
Vaya Con Dios, Alan Bell

 

[Zigner]

This doesn't rise to libel for two reasons:

1) The word "pester" is considered an opinion. Did you ask them? If you asked them even once, then they might have considered it "pestering".

2) What are your damages? You have no demonstrated damages. In fact, I don't even see that (what you pasted) puts you in a negative light.

 

[quincy]

I agree with Zigner. The article sounds a lot more positive than negative, and the word "pester", even in the strongest sense, would not be considered defamatory.