Logs and picture posted of a conversation - Is this serious defamation?

[Starwhisper]

To sum up what all happened, this 38 year old married man on yahoo messanger sent me a message late one night asking me if I would be willing to be his "woman on the side" pretty much. I turned him down serveral times, he went nutty on me calling me bad names, telling me he was going to spread my number (fake number btw) to every a-hole on the internet. I told him go for it and we stopped talking. Later that night I posted our conversation and the picture he sent me on a site that is pretty much for stories or your opinion on something. Late this morning I get a message from someone claiming to be a lawyer and he told me I could be sued for putting up the guys picture and the logs of our conversation. Well the supposed lawyer lost his temper on me also (just like the main person).

If willing read through both of the message histories that I posted.

http://www.ubersite.com/m/42801

http://www.ubersite.com/m/43171

Was this guy just trying to scare me enough to get me to take his picture off the net so his wife doesn't catch it or can I really be sued?

Thank you for taking the time to read through this.

 

[NYClex]

well, this is a topic people better avoid. Though I doubt that this guy was a lawyer, there is something to what he says.

To be successful in a defamation suit the main element to prove is that any "statements" made are "false and defamatory". Assuming that the originator of this "chat" is the person in the picture he might have some problems to prove that.

But there are more issues. Assuming the person in the picture is not the originator of this chat, this person could very well be offended by finding himself there in this publication.

The tort of "invasion of privacy" is defined: "False light invasion of privacy occurs when information is published about a person that is false or places the person in a false light, is highly offensive to a reasonable person, and is published with knowledge or in reckless disregard of whether the information was false or would place the person in a false light.

Although this tort is similar to defamation, it is not the same. The report need not be defamatory to be actionable as false light. This type of invasion of privacy tends to occur when a writer condenses or fictionalizes a story, or uses stock footage to illustrate a news story.

False light includes embellishment (false material added to a story, which places someone in a false light), distortion (the arrangement of materials or photographs to give a false impression) and fictionalization (works of fiction containing disguised characters that represent real people or references to real people in fictitious articles). "

Also, depending on the consequences this whole sordid business might have I can see people trying to sue for "Intentional infliction of emotional distress."

So my bottom line on this: Just to avoid any aggravation I would never post someone's picture online without that person's expressed consent.

 

[Starwhisper]

NYClex, I thank you for taking the time to reply to my post it is appreciated.