A very frustrating and stressful experience is when one unhappy former customer, employee, or colleague decides to take his or her grief public and posts lies about you and your company.  Suddenly, when you search your name or your company’s name, the blogger’s site comes up first instead of yours.  What can you do? It is free speech. Well, maybe.

If someone has written lies about you on the Internet, you may have recourse against him or her for both monetary damages and a court order to take down the defamatory statements. Defamation is an old common law that has resurfaced in this Internet Age.  News editors and writers have been well versed and trained in this area for years, but bloggers are unaware of the real world effects of their virtual writings.  Bloggers do not even need his or her own computer to sign up for a Word Press or eBlogger account and be exposed to significant liability.

Bottom line: A defamatory statement (in general) is a published (legal meaning of the word) statement of fact (not opinion) that is not true and causes damage (usually to reputation).   There is some nuances to liability, but if you feel you have been a victim to defamation, you probably have recourse.  Free speech does not extend to what the law considers defamation.

In full disclosure, even our firm’s site has been accused of defamation in its efforts to expose modification fraud; but truth and statements of opinion are always protected.