Co-op website responsibility

[Bklyncmt]

I belong to a small co-op in Brooklyn, New York, and a shareholder/webmaster posted a personal web site (named after the co-op but with a disclaimer on the front page) and bulletin board to get information out to the shareholders regarding our mutual investment. There are numerous corporate documents posted on the site.

In the last few weeks the webmaster has 1) impugned current members on the board; 2) taken personal conversations and redirected the focus to continue the misinformation regarding the current board; 3)began impugning another shareholder for posting differing views than his own.

A request was made to the webmaster to post a posting policy out of concern for the impugning of shareholder's character. It appears that the webmaster, when notified, is apologizing in a personal email, editing the site, but not posting any correction on the web site that his original posting was incorrect.

Today the webmaster has announced that he is running for the board and will manipulate the information as he sees fit. He has also impugned the reputation of other shareholders in the past and again when one posted today pointing out that he had "poisoned the well"

A direct request was made for him to stop posting a shareholder's name and his negative comments, and he has refused.

My questions:

Does the co-op have any liability for the site as there are corporate documents listed?

Can the webmaster be sued for defamation or libel?

 

[Michael Wechsler]

I can't say conclusively, especially without knowing all the details. The outcome of the case is fact dependent. Assuming this webmaster has committed libel (impugning someone's good name may be a different cause of action and may not be libel, especially if technically everything said is true):

(1) If the web site is paid for by the corporation, then the corporation is open to being sued.

(2) If the webmaster defamed anyone, you can sue the webmaster. There may be questions about who ultimately pays (and whether this work was within the scope of his duties) but he'd be subject to suit.

Why are the other members of the co-op allowing this individual to create potential liability for the coop? Perhaps if you are seeking to remove this individual, it's a good approach to take.

I belong to a small co-op in Brooklyn, New York, and a shareholder/webmaster posted a personal web site (named after the co-op but with a disclaimer on the front page) and bulletin board to get information out to the shareholders regarding our mutual investment. There are numerous corporate documents posted on the site.

In the last few weeks the webmaster has 1) impugned current members on the board; 2) taken personal conversations and redirected the focus to continue the misinformation regarding the current board; 3)began impugning another shareholder for posting differing views than his own.

A request was made to the webmaster to post a posting policy out of concern for the impugning of shareholder's character. It appears that the webmaster, when notified, is apologizing in a personal email, editing the site, but not posting any correction on the web site that his original posting was incorrect.

Today the webmaster has announced that he is running for the board and will manipulate the information as he sees fit. He has also impugned the reputation of other shareholders in the past and again when one posted today pointing out that he had "poisoned the well"

A direct request was made for him to stop posting a shareholder's name and his negative comments, and he has refused.

My questions:

Does the co-op have any liability for the site as there are corporate documents listed?

Can the webmaster be sued for defamation or libel?

 

[Bklyncmt]

Thank you "thelawprofessor":

The web site is not owned or paid for by the corporation and the web site was put up by one shareholder initially to get to know the residents and disseminate information to residents and shareholders. Each shareholder has to "register" and it is private to residents of the building.

In the initial stages the webmaster aired only "suspicions" and then finally a board member was named. The webmaster used a conversation that he had with yet another shareholder as the basis to "out" the board member he thought held a particular point of view. That quoted shareholder came on to the site and challenged the webmaster as to the veracity of the conversation and his use of it to "impugn" and "slur" the current board member. None of the webmasters posts had any foundation in truth. The webmaster then personally emailed the board member, did a quick edit on the post but did not issue any public apology.

In the last few weeks the web site bulletin board has been used as a platform to discuss some controversial issues in the building. A few shareholders have shared their views without denigrating any other shareholder/resident views.

A very small number of shareholders actually post on the site and discuss isssues related to the co-op. Suddenly the webmaster has taken it upon himself to label a shareholder with a differing point of view as "argumentative" and "not nice".

The webmaster announced that he would be running for the board and the "argumentative" shareholder questioned the webmaster as to using the board to "poison the well" and stated that this shareholder would no longer be posting and requested that the webmaster refrain from using the shareholders' name.

The webmaster then transferred the post to another "unread and unused" thread and sent a personal email to the shareholder stating that the webmaster will post any name he wants to post.

It appears that the webmaster may have had a personal agenda from the begining and has manipulated interest in a non-issue to further that agenda and at the same time started a campaign to undermine the current board and any person he feels may also run for the board.

The co-op board was notified and has decided that the disclaimer is not worded strong enough and the webmaster has acted inappropriately regarding the other shareholders and will issue a co-op notice that it is a personal website and not associated with the co-op and/or the board.

I am not quite certain of the difference between libel, defamation and impugning someone's character,but do not think that this webmaster is behaving in a responsible manner. Since I may be running for the board and do not feel like taking this battle on, I was asking for information before I proceeded.

Again thanks for your input, BklynCMT