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 Posted: Fri Dec 12, 2008 11:38 am Post subject: Defamation / Libel postings on LF |
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There has been a few discussions taking place in the public forums here on LF that have been close to the bone on their legality, this has been reinforced by me receiving a legal note this morning asking for a thread to be removed due to the nature of the posts on it.
I want to hammer home that information posted here on LF is publishing, i.e. you are doing the same here as if you were writing a column for a magazine or newspaper and as such can be subject to legal action should any opinions you have of X company be proved to be defamatory statements etc
Apologies for the "wordiness" of this and the slightly "legalese" language but I found it hard to dampen it down into standard english lol
Under the law, and LF rules, the moderators and administrators would be within their rights (and can be forced by legal action) to suspend the authors of such posts from membership, disclose their IP and e-mail addresses, and any other personal information held about them, and allow the solicitors to write to them direct. Remember you are each personally responsible for what you post, try to moderate language so it is not defamatory
Defamation This is becoming an increasing problem Stop, think, be sensible.
Meaning of Defamation There is no single comprehensive definition of what is defamatory. It includes anything which;
Is to a person’s discredit. Z is a thief or dishonest or incompetent at his job . business A was run badly, now it has been bought by B it will still be run badly
Tends to lower him or her in the estimation of others. Z is incompetent at his job B provides the worst after sales care and service in the world, W ran companies into the ground successively (when W is a company doctor put into ailing companies to sell off bits for bankers)
Causes him or her to be shunned or avoided. X has some disfiguring disease
Causes him or her to be exposed to hatred, ridicule or contempt. x is a pervert, Y cheated in his exams
For a statement to be defamatory the imputation must tend to lower the claimant in the estimation of right-thinking members of society generally.
This is particularly true of one frequent subject here on LF of Breeders, do not imply or otherwise tar the reputation of a breeder unless you have hard factual evidence to back up your statements and are willing to produce them if forced to legally.
If you ignore this advice and post content that isn't factual and is defamatory then the likelyhood is you will face legal action at some point from that companies/breeders legal representative, this is out of the control of LF or any other forums.
Jumping on the bandwagon in posts regarding breeders etc and saying "I told you so", or that "they are puppy farmers" or similar postings, merely courts trouble for you and ithe posts may be defamatory in themselves or they hand the new company comments which might be interpreted as showing it being lowered in the face of right thnking individuals, on a plate.
There is no problem reporting true, factual occurrences. You should feel comfortable in posting these facts - after all, we are a community, and we should be able to share good or bad experiences. What crosses the line, legally, is where posts are made which are untrue, or calls businesses or individuals defamatory names (e.g. "puppy farmers"), or draws unjustified conclusions ("they'll always be useless").
Whilst LF as the industry leading independent labrador owners's voice strives to maintain a delicate balance between allowing members a medium to inform others about good and bad service from companies/breeders they have had dealings with, we do not wish our members to post possibly defamatory statements uninformed about the legal processes that have been occurring not only here on our site but against members of other sites"
So in Summary
If you have had a bad experience with a company,/breeder then feel free to come on LF and tell others about it, but for your own protection, do not include comments which are potentially libellous and you should therefore avoid the use of words such as 'scam', 'crook', 'rip off', 'thief', etc., unless you are fully able to justify your comments by documentary evidence.
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