Personal libel in my workplace? :(

[deanne]

A subscriber on a forum I was a part of is using her web log to suggest to her friends/readers to contact my coworkers and me at our workplace with concerns of a personal nature, i.e., she does not want me talking to her boyfriend who happens to be my best friend (long story). Just today she published direct links to my coworkers' and my email addresses on her online journal. She often makes false statements about me on her page; thankfully my friend got her to remove the link this afternoon, but this young woman is currently threatening, "I will post the link again, and send it out and do anything I want with it if you start another site." I have also shut down my site with no intent to "start" another one, and she has removed the links, replacing them instead with the above quote. My concern is that she will further use her site as a means to solicit emails from her friends to my coworkers (including my administrators) with the intent and effect to harrass and libel me. I am greatly concerned and want to know how to address such a concern. I am in the profession of education, and any of hers and her friends' comments to my coworkers and administrators would certainly serve no other purpose than to defame me.

I have contacted the hosting site today and am waiting hearing back from them, but -- does this sound like a case of libel (if that's how you say it)?

I really appreciate your response. I'm extremely upset and anxious about all of this.

 

[Swanflies]

Magedson Attorney Profiting from Ripoff?

Well, I hate to say it but it looks like there are some attorneys who actually support the right of individuals to post anything they want to online with impunity. I have gotten interested in a particular situation that makes me question where all of this is leading. In the case I am following it looks like the attorney might be making a profit from her client's web site.

It looks like Ed Magedson has cultivated relationships with people just like himself. After doing some checking around I dug up some interesting information about Ed's attorney, MARIE CRIMI SPETH, who shields him from getting the thrashing in court that he deserves. It looks to me like she is reaping a profit from her relationship with Ed. And, by the way, she also sits on the board of a group that researches "Musical Cosmology". Sounds nuts to me. Guess the nuts are all from the same tree that takes root on Ed's site.

What made me curious was the nasty letter I got from Speth when I exercised my right to freedom of speech by contacting Sterling Networks, the company I thought provided service to Ed for his web site. In return, I received a threatening letter from Ed's attorney. This set off warning bells in my mind and raised some questions
Why does Speth protect him? I understand that attorneys, like prostitutes, are paid to take a position, but does she, like Ed, profit from the complaints generated on his site?

What piqued my interest was recalling that Rip-off Report posted information about a class action lawsuit against Pizza Hut. CRIMI SPETH was representing the disgruntled employees. She worked for GRANT, WILLIAMS & DANGERFIELD, at the time. Could it be that she gleans complaints off of Ed's site and instead of being an ambulance chaser, is instead a 'posting chaser'?

It seems logical to me that, if the claims posted on Ed's site have any merit or basis in fact, an attorney could harvest clients off of Ed's site. If he were picking plum cases ripe for the courts and sending them her way that would be amazing – and I believe, illegal. How else would SPETH be able to amalgamate these various individuals into one civil lawsuit? The identities of the individuals involved are anonymous on the bulletin board, but Ed has access to that info which he could provide to an attorney friend. I could be wrong, but it gives one pause for thought.

 

[Klaas]

Deanne, some advice: if in your opinion you get slandered, libelled, defamed or whatever it may be called, do not forget to make copied mirrors of the internet pages and ask some impartial witnesses to do the same, and eventually get a specialized lawyer.


Regards, Klaas de Vries Jr