So a friend of mine is being sued by a company for a blog post in which he takes a talks about how the company is basically scamming people. This is not a particularly huge company, nor is his blog widely read. The claims he made were basically true, although he made a fairly common semantic mistake on statistical claim. They are suing him for an undisclosed amount (>$75k, plus fees, etc.).
Just based on google searches, the company does seem to scam people. Is there any cheap way my friend can defend himself? Lawyers he has discussed the matter with want a $5k retainer, which is hard to justify given the thinness of the case. I thought about the EFF, but they seem to usually take bigger, more interesting cases. Am I wrong about that?
Blogger Ken White of popehat.com sort of specializes in acquiring pro bono representation on cases like this. Depending on the state, there are often anti-SLAPP rules that more or less guarantee winning legal fees if you successfully defend yourself.
To elaborate a bit using an unrelated, but analogous example; this company seems to basically take advantage of people’s naivety and ego. They are like a modeling agency for children that encouraged every kid to pursue that career at a high expense (eg. headshots, etc.).
My friend basically wanted to see if they wee legit, so he researched them. Then, to test if the material he found was accurate, he “tested” them. He, for purposes of our analogy, sent them a pic of one photogenic kid, and one less than photogenic kid. The response from the company was positive and enthusiastic in both cases. However, to continue, he needed to basically commit a bunch of money for various expenses. The expenses were for things one might need to seriously become a model, but not something a less than ideal candidate would not waste money on.
He wrote all this up, then he found out they are suing him for defamation and tortuous interference with business relationships.
You say they are asking for in excess of 75 grand, I assume the parties are in different states, meaning it is a diversity of citizenship action.
Alos did they request a jury trial in the actual complaint?
Ask about a retraction and consequential damages to them that he can afford, IF he believes he is wrong (or even if right), no way a non legal person can handle this.
The thing is, that doesn’t sound like a “scam” so long as they aren’t providing any guarantees. Plenty of “less than photogenic” people pursue acting careers. Who is the company to tell a client their kid isn’t suited for the role of “buger eating kid” or “young version of character actor in flashback”?
They are not a modeling company, I was just trying to analogize it to another industry. That said, the details of the interaction and their responses indicate that they are more interested in making money directly from their clients via overpriced services than actually getting them “work”. That said, I don’t think it is (nor did he imply) it is a scam in the Madoff sense, but more like in the actively managed overpriced mutual fund sense.
They actually served him with the complaint - or are threatening to do so?
He must either get an attorney or defend himself. Most people do not have the skill to defend themselves. If he doesn’t show up - the court will most likely enter a default judgement against him.
Guess he isn’t in California?
Some people have had luck posting copies of their legal complaints on their blogs.
I’m not sure what you mean by cheap. I think you could find someone for less than 5k to file a motion for summary judgement, but don’t know for sure. If there are actual facts in dispute that would support a claim - it’s probably going to be closer to at least 5k.
Do the lawyers he spoke with think they have a valid claim?
Yes, different states. And the did request a jury trial in the complaint.
Yeah, I know he could probably settle to less, but on principle I don’t think he wants to if he can avoid it. Maybe a retraction and no damages might work I suppose.
They did it. AFAIK, there was no other intermediate step or contact between the two parties.
Yeah, he wouldn’t risk any of that.
No, the DC area.
True, but I worry that will just exacerbate things.
Yeah, the issue I think they will hang their hat on is a semantic/statistical error he made. Something along the lines of saying X number of people voted for Romney based on a percentage of the vote he got, and the US population, while not considering not everyone votes. In essence, it made the companies pathetic success rate seem even worse.
No, but they think it will be fairly complicated and expensive to pursue if the company wants to press the issue.
The $5K retainer may seem hard to justify given the thinness of the case, but the lawyer is basing his or her retainer on an estimate of how many hours will have to go into defending your friend. Just because it’s a bullshit case doesn’t mean that your friend won’t have to respond to the complaint and file papers and motions just to get it to go away. And that could be a lot of billable hours for a lawyer. Let’s say the lawyer is charging a moderate fee of $300 per hour. That $5K will only cover 16 hours. Not that much time, really.
And, if your friend has been served with a complaint, he needs a lawyer. Right now.
I agree. I don’t think the lawyer is being greedy or anything. It’s just that I don’t think he is necessarily in a position to spend $5k+ on this issue. If he must, he will I suppose. But, cheaper (and effective) is better.
Maybe he can find a lawyer who will file a Notice of Appearance and an Answer (“defendant denies everything and here’s a counterclaim for a gazillion dollars”) and that would be enough to make it go away.
Has this company sued other people, successfully?
Cuz damn, that’s kinda scary. It sounds like your friend understands that he might be in hot water.
And if it isn’t enough? Then he’s back where he started.
No, I think he needs a lawyer who can handle this, and not on the cheap. He doesn’t need a big white-shoe firm with lawyers who charge $900 per hour, but he needs a lawyer with experience in this area of the law.
Anyway, if he pays a $5,000 retainer to a lawyer, and the lawyer files a motion to dismiss or something (again, IANAL) and the plaintiff does go away, any balance left of the retainer should be refundable.
If by any chance it’s a vanity or reverse-vanity publisher, he could try emailing the people at Writer Beware for advice - they’ve dealt with stuff like this before, and they might know lawyers who have experience in the area and/or would do pro bono work.
Probably not. Once a lawyer enters an appearance on behalf of a client, the lawyer is in the case until it is resolved or granted the Court’s permission to withdraw.
Some jurisdictions now have “limited retainer” options, Oak - where a person can retain a lawyer for a limited purpose. So long as the lawyer explains the significance of a limited retainer in advance, it can help someone get some legal assistance, like a “go away” letter.
Whether that is an option for the OP’s friends would depend on the professional standards of whichever jurisdiction he’s in.