Posted on 05/18/2012 8:10:43 AM PDT by freedombiz
An Anaheim technology company and its top executive have won $1.56 million in an Internet defamation case that illustrates the potential seriousness of false information put online.
Such cases may be a backlash to people who like to vent online., hitting such online commenters in the wallet if they can’t prove their rants.
(Excerpt) Read more at jan.ocregister.com ...
I sure hope George Zimmerman and his attorneys have read this. Zimmerman should come out of this rich.
“Karan was starting a business and hired a company in India owned by Okhandiar to create some custom software. Morris said the software was delivered on time, but a dispute arose. The lawsuit said that in 2008, Karan started attacking mLogica, which wasn’t involved in the issue, and “stated in one email that he would ‘work night and day to inflict the maximum amount of financial pain’ on mLogica. ”
According to the lawsuit, Karan on his blog accused Okhandiar and/or mLogica of never paying vendors, of “unscrupulous, unethical and illegal business conduct,” and of cheating and siphoning money from people they did business with.
Karan also emailed these allegations to mLogica’s clients and business partners using a list illegally obtained from the company, the lawsuit says.
During the jury trial, Morris said, Karan under oath could not identify even one unpaid vendor or defrauded customer. (In regular lawsuits, the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, but in defamation cases, the defendant must prove the validity of his statements.)”
Look at the email the defendant sent. He clearly gave the plaintiff evidence of intent which is required in a case like this with a non-public figure,
If you complain about a company in a blog don't send out emails to the company telling them that your intent is to ruin the them (company), or if you do be prepared to prove your posts. Jeeze!
I guess it depends on how many "millions" a ranter has...or doesn't have.
But still, "The emails damaged mLogica so much that major projects it was working on were cut off and the company had to lay off employees, "
That's some significant damage. And, in this case, the ranter was a doctor and may've had deeper pockets than other "run of the mill" online ranters.
Thank you. Proper analysis in post 3.
This is why we come here.
Good call!
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