Forums,Competitor,Drop Shippers...Oh my

[MMMM]

Hello I run a small web based business and I recently had some problems with what I would call liabel statement. Here is the story:

About 6 months ago I had some personal issues where I needed to take some time off. I had posted on my site as well as on one of the forums I go to that customers hang out at, that I wasn't going available and that products that were shipped out by me were going to be shipped upon my return, but that products that were shipped out by drop shippers would be shipped out like normal.

Upon my return I found that my drop shippers(competitors) had stop shipping and then made a post on the forums claiming I was just collecting orders and had no intention of filling them and was stealing their money. They (2 different drop shippers) also posted that they would fill any out standing at No Charge to the customer.

Then they encouraged those customers to contact their cc company and chargeback their order. All the people who did chargeback their order gave an incorrect phone number. All gave the same incorrect number. This caused me to have my merchant account closed.

Now I have proof that my drop shippers didn't ship packages on a timely basis. Many of the orders were a few weeks old before they made their post. BTW My proof is cc transaction dates and tracking numbers\dates from UPS. I also have proof that all orders were filled again with UPS tracking numbers.

I have asked the forums (2 different sites) admins who are also competitors to remove those posts and to pinn a post (like they did with the posts I find liabel) stating that it was a mistake. I'm a pretty laid back guy and can understand that things over the net can go screwy from time to time. However I haven't had any luck with that.

To be honest I rather avoid court but if I have no other option I guess that's the route I'll have to take. Can I contact the hosting company and ask them to cancel their hosting? As far as I'm concerned this is abuse.

2 Forum Admins have called me a theif (both are also competior) Can I go after the forums and their retail sites? 2 Drop shippers didn't fill orders on a timely basis and the claimed I was a thief? Many of these competitors run more then one site, can I go after them all?

Over the last 6 months I have lost about 36K in gross sales because of this and can prove this with bank statements. I would love some input.

Thanks for your time!!!

 

[NYClex]

Now to evaluate this case one would neet to know all the details. You should contact a lawyer about this.

You might want to proceed not only with a (or instead of a ) defamation theory, but with one or both of these tort theories:

Interference with Contractual Relations

The tort of interference with contractual relations permits a plaintiff to recover damages based upon a claim that a defendant interfered with the plaintiff's contractual relations. The elements of an intentional interference with contractual relations claim are (1) a valid contract between plaintiff and a third party; (2) defendant's knowledge of this contract; (3) defendant's intentional acts designed to induce a breach or disruption of the contractual relationship; (4) actual breach or disruption of the contractual relationship; and (5) resulting damage.

To be considered tortious, a defendant's actions must substantially exceed fair competition and free expression, such as persuading a bank not to lend a competitor any more money.

Interference with Prospective Business Advantage

The tort of interference with prospective business advantage protects economic interests that have not yet been formalized into contract. The elements of that tort are (1) an economic relationship between the plaintiff and some third person containing the probability of future economic benefit to the plaintiff, (2) defendant's knowledge of the existence of the relationship, (3) defendant's intentional acts designed to disrupt the relationship, (4) actual disruption of the relationship, and (5) damages to the plaintiff proximately caused by the acts of the defendant.

 

[MMMM]

Thanks for the reply. To be honest with you I really don't want the hassel of court. I have tried on a few occasions to try to resolve this and explained that I would take them to court.

Their basic reply was go ahead get your judgement (because they won't show up to court) and try to collect. With a judgement against them what sort of recourse do I have? Can I get control of thier domain name?

 

[charlesesq]

Thanks for the reply. To be honest with you I really don't want the hassel of court. I have tried on a few occasions to try to resolve this and explained that I would take them to court.

Their basic reply was go ahead get your judgement (because they won't show up to court) and try to collect. With a judgement against them what sort of recourse do I have? Can I get control of thier domain name?

You will not get an award of the host's domain name or any of the host's property for that matter. A suit for libel results in the potential award of money damages.