Replies to post #1935 on The Question and Answer Board (IHUB)

[marty_lewis]

I don't know if it is okay or not. It may be that in some cases it is, and in some cases it's not.

"Which brings me to a question of my own for any legal types: If someone makes a reputation-harming untrue statement about you in writing, and prefaces it with "I hear" or "In my opinion" or "I think" or any other such qualifier, is it likely to make it less libelous?"

[cOUSIN SHORTY]

It depends. If the person has a habit of posting material of a potentially libelous nature, and puts "IMHO" or "JMHO" at the bottom, it is debatable, since it could be argued that "IMHO" is not a part of the language that the majority of people use every day. Further, if you could show that said person put "IMHO" at the end of EVERY message, no matter what he or she said, then you might be able to argue that the intent of that person was simply to try and avoid legal problems that they knew would crop up in the future.

It also has to do with the nature of the person or entity being spoken about. I beleive a public figure is less likely to win a libel suit than someone nobody ever heard of, simply because the public figure is well known to lots of people. Then there is the area of satire. Jay Leno does not get sued when he tells a "joke" about someone that one of his viewers believes is fact.

It's a gray area in many cases. I think it would come down to the person's INTENT. If the INTENT was to defraud, or for personal gain at the victim's expense, then putting "IMHO" at the end of it would be weak. But the law gives people a lot of leeway regarding libel.

This, by the way, is just me rambling, and I am not an attorney, so this is just...uh...my own...personal...

[WillP]

Which brings me to a question of my own for any legal types: If someone makes a reputation-harming untrue statement about you in writing, and prefaces it with "I hear" or "In my opinion" or "I think" or any other such qualifier, is it likely to make it less libelous?

That depends. I'm a Canadian, and not a lawyer, but my understanding of libel law in both countries is this:

If an opinion can not be proved false, it's not libelous. If it can, it might be.

That is:

Posting "This company is a scam and a fraud in my opinion," could well be libelous.

Posting, "I think this product is junk," is not.

Always adding "in my opinion" does not make one libel-proof, they say.

Regards,

Will

[Bird of Prey]

Which brings me to a question of my own for any legal types: If someone makes a reputation-harming untrue statement about you in writing, and prefaces it with "I hear" or "In my opinion" or "I think" or any other such qualifier, is it likely to make it less libelous?

While am not an attorney (nor do I play one on TV) I do try to keep up with the status of this particular issue.
The Key point is can you show Damages. Example: If as a result of the message being posted about Bob, he were to suffer some kind of injury (fired, stalked and beaten up, shot, stabbed, etc.) then regardless of the IMO, he could likely bring a case to court. Winning it would be another matter.

David Weed
aka the Bird of Prey
www.warp-drive.com

[Georgia Bard]

Bob that particular type post you would not have to show damages at all in court if it were untrue plus it not cost a dime the poster would pay your legal fees. If that cannot be proven you would win including punitive because it is referencing you job. Look at the first libel case that was won on a Dr. within the USA and If you want I can locate it and the $675,000.00 awarded in damages.

But anyway that post would have been deleted on my threads without a second of hestitation. Personal attack plain and simple. and most likely this poster is a stalker of yours and has a historical documented scenario of charcter assassination on you. If on a personal thread not problem if on as stock then is the stock thread the victim of this libel. If on a common financial no particular stock then again it has NO meat to it. This would be one of those "please provide specific information and the underlying basis for this malious post."

Bottomline is it serves no purpose whatsoever other than a personal and worst yet a professional attack on you. PERIOD.

For someone to express they know what someone does in the market most of the time is not true unless they are sitting right there beside the peson or the broker or is the actual broker. Period! Legal and common sense do not follow each other.

This is a personal attack, depicable and has NO merit whatsoever to anything. No underlying basis and reason for being made. But if you want it to stay out there that is your right if you are the chair.

IMO or I hear or I whatever I would delete for a personal attack and again ask for specific information and the underlying basis.

But that is my take.

:=) Gary Swancey