Ben Defamation

[honolulu]

Hello I have recently filed a lawsuit for Defamation, I was accused of committing a crime, and letters were sent to my agent and to the owner of the apartment. Which I resided for over four years prior to being Evicted based on those letters. Fortunately I have a video tape of the incident that caused My wife and I to be Evicted. The letters that were sent accused me of assaulting someone which I didn't and it shows him antagonizing me. I have a attorney but he is a friend and older and actually very busy with other cases mostly criminal. I am trying to find out the value of my claim over just my increased rent, I have done some research it it mentions if it caused your good name or reputation has changed within the community. I lived in Waikiki close to the beach and was more than friendly with the people in the building, as seen by the many letters of praise by these people and even some that were convinced to sign the letters. Can somebody give me an idea of what this case might be worth. Thank You and Aloha

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Hello I have recently filed a lawsuit for Defamation, I was accused of committing a crime, and letters were sent to my agent and to the owner of the apartment. Which I resided for over four years prior to being Evicted based on those letters. Fortunately I have a video tape of the incident that caused My wife and I to be Evicted. The letters that were sent accused me of assaulting someone which I didn't and it shows him antagonizing me. I have a attorney but he is a friend and older and actually very busy with other cases mostly criminal. I am trying to find out the value of my claim over just my increased rent, I have done some research it it mentions if it caused your good name or reputation has changed within the community. I lived in Waikiki close to the beach and was more than friendly with the people in the building, as seen by the many letters of praise by these people and even some that were convinced to sign the letters. Can somebody give me an idea of what this case might be worth. Thank You and Aloha

Hi there and sorry to hear about the problem you have had.

There is a challenge with defamation cases in that they are very fact specific. It will be next to impossible for anyone here to appraise how much it is worth since it will require a much longer conversation.

This said, I'll comment briefly on what you told me. First, I don't think your case will be easy to appraise and may not be as much as you hoped. There isn't an easily ascertainable dollar figure, e.g. you lost your $250,000 per year job as a result of the false allegations. This will make your case challenging to prove.

Second, this will likely not be a contingency case, where you only pay for filing fees and a lawyer will get a percentage of the case. It's high risk, questionable reward. I don't know if small claims will handle defamation in Honolulu but it may be that the time isn't worth the money in the end.

While every wrong should be righted, that isn't the way in this world and unfortunately we need to pick our battles. This may not be one that you want to pursue and let it blow over and air your own PR if you feel it helps you, which it may or may not. Regardless, I wish you the best of luck if you decide to pursue it.

 

[honolulu]

Ben

Hello and Thank You for your response, but I feel that because of the fact that the management company didn't even investigate the false accusation and I was evicted because of this. Also my status within that community was very good prior to these accusations, I think if I was on the jury, and learned of this behavior by the defense I would add significant monies for punitive damages. Which is used to deter this type of behavior in the future. It appears that based on my investagating your reputation in the community is an important factor and being accused of a crime is also an important factor. Also with these two factors it seems that you don't need to have general or even provable damages but presumable damages. Please Reply Aloha