California Defamation Law Blog : California Defamation Lawyer & Attorney : Adrianos Facchetti Law Firm : Los Angeles CA : Defamation Law Blog

As I wrote in an earlier post this week, the parties to an anti-SLAPP motion must present competent, admissible evidence. Such evidence is usually presented in a declaration, which is where most people make a very common and totally avoidable mistake.

It usually looks like this:

"I am informed and believe that John Doe claims he is an accredited physical therapist and has practiced physical therapy for over ten years, which to my knowledge, could not be true."

Can you tell me what's wrong with the above hypothetical allegation? Yep. You guessed it.

The above allegation is hearsay and "declarations on a special motion to strike a SLAPP suit ((strategic lawsuit against public participation)) . . . may not include averments on information and belief."). See Evans v. Unkow (1995) 38 Cal.App.4th 1490.

This is such a simple rule and yet many attorneys violate it, sometimes repeatedly in a single declaration.

Don't make the same mistake.

If you want to learn how to get the most out of this blog click here.

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Enrico Schaefer over at Traverse Legal alerted me to this podcast that a colleague of his hosted with reputation management pioneer Sue Scheff. I have discussed Sue's harrowing story and her book Google Bomb (co-written with attorney John dozier, Jr.) in a previous post.

In this podcast, Sue discusses:

• The definition of a Google Bomb
• Why defamation lawsuits are difficult to prove
• Why it is important to monitor your reputation
• Which reputation management service she uses
• And much, much more

You can check out the podcast here: 

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I'm having way too much fun creating educational videos using a cool site I found called www.xtranormal.com.  The site allows you to create animated videos, which is a lot of fun. I also think it's a great way to continue to share excellent content with you regarding California Defamation Law and so you can "see" what a defamation lawyer looks like.

You can check out the following  videos I made on my NEW Defamation Law Channel on Youtube:

Internet Defamation Lawyer: Introduction

Internet Defamation: Dealing With Negative Customer Reviews

How To Avoid Being Sued On Your Blog

If you liked this post please subscribe to the California Defamation Law Newsletter to receive a FREE copy of the "The Ultimate Beginner's Guide To Defamation Law."

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Warning! This post contains language which may be offensive to some. Please do not read it if you find profanity objectionable or if it makes you feel uncomfortable.

E Online! is reporting that Courtney Love is being sued in Los Angeles by a designer for defamation and other claims.

The "Hole" rockstar allegedly made outrageous statements about fashion designer Dawn Simorangkir on Twitter, Myspace, and other media, after Simorangkir sent Love an invoice for clothes Simorangkir had designed for Love.

Here are some of the more shocking allegations of libel in no particular order (spelling mistakes included):

• "she has a history of dealing cocaine, lost all custody of her child, assualt, and burglary."
• "nasty hosebag lying thief"
• "she's an assault addict herself"
• "vile horrible lying bitch"
• "is my clothes my WARDROBE! oi vey don't fuck with my wradrobe or you willend up in a circle of corched eaeth hunted till your dead."

It is clear to anyone that if these allegation are true, they would be extremely offensive and defamatory. But that's not the reason why I'm writing this post.

This case is novel not because of the alleged rantings of a celebrity, but because it is the first defamation lawsuit involving comments made on Twitter.

I have talked about it a lot of times on Twitter and I knew it would be coming soon. 

And now it's here.

The point is that Twitterers need to be careful about what they post on Twitter.  It is too easy to post something that can come back to haunt you later. People have lost jobs or have been reprimanded for misusing Twitter, and yes, you can even get sued for internet defamation.

So now that I've pointed out the problem, what can you do to avoid getting sued on Twitter? Here you go:

1. Listen To Your Mother - Remember when you mother said, "honey, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."  Well, your mother was absolutely right. Even if what you say is not technically defamation, you still might get sued. Do you want to get sued? I didn't think so.
2. Don't Drink & Tweet - Drinking leads to stupid decision-making. Just don't do it. I was thinking about tweeting during a friend's bachelor party last weekend in Vegas, and someone gave me great advice. Don't do it! He said. Because of his advice, what happened in Vegas will stay in Vegas.
3. Don't Use Your Real Name - If you insist on making negative comments about others, I would implore you not to use your real name on Twitter. You have a right to anonymous speech and you should exercise it. Just know that the law will hold you accountable if you break it; and know that if an experienced internet defamation lawyer wants to obtain your identity, he or she eventually will with enough effort. So I will repeat: Listen to your mother.

Did you like this post? If so, please subscribe right now via email to keep getting free updates. You can also follow me on Twitter at @adrianos

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You are a professional service provider and you pride yourself on the quality of your services.  Odds are, you have a lot of experience and you've spent a great deal of time building your professional reputation in the community.

Then it happens.

You get hit with one or two negative reviews online about you or your business.  You lose business and your reputation suffers immediately.

You get angry. Then you get frustrated. Then you get angry again.  Then you begin to feel anxious. And eventually you feel helpless.

Well, I'm here to tell you that I understand your situation because I'm a service provider myself, and because I talk to people all the time who have been defamed online.

Because I know how you feel, I'm going to tell you a secret that is extremely effective in getting some customer review sites to remove defamatory material about you.

But before I share this gem with you, you need to understand a couple of things.

The first thing you need to know is that most customer review sites are unlikely to remove content about you unless you threaten to sue them. This is because they are shielded from liability by a federal law known as the Communications Decency Act.

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 ("CDA") is a federal law that is extremely protective of online speech. It was originally intended to regulate pornography on the Internet, but later was interpreted by courts to immunize Internet service providers from torts committed by users of their systems.  It specifically says:

"No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider.”

This means generally that a plaintiff cannot sue the operator of a site (read: customer review site) for defamation for comments made by a third party (read: customer).

Second, you need to know that most customer review sites have counsel who deal with these kinds of situations on a daily basis and they are extremely reluctant to remove alleged defamatory reviews, unless they clearly violate the law.

So what is the best way to get customer review sites to remove alleged defamatory reviews?

Is it to send them a letter asking them nicely to remove the material? NO.

Is it to send them an e-mail alleging that the material violates their Terms Of Service? NO.

Is it to file a defamation lawsuit? Not necessarily.

The best way to get SOME customer review sites to remove alleged defamatory material is to allege a Misappropriation of Trade Name or Likeness. 

Most customer review sites/directories make money by placing ads around customer reviews. I argue that these sites have not obtained permission from my clients to use their trade name or likeness for profit.  I argue that this is an unfair business practice and that it violates the law. This strategy works.  And the best part is that it is not subject to the overly broad protections of the Communications Decency Act.

This is one of the most powerful strategies I know to combat internet defamation on customer review/ratings sites bar-none. It does not require you to file a lawsuit or go after some anonymous individual.

One word of caution . . . Do not to use this tactic in every situation.  Every case is different and I highly encourage you to speak to an internet defamation attorney; even if it's not me.

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I am SO excited about this week's hotlinks and I'll tell you why in a second. . .   But first, I want to thank you for reading my blog.  I really LOVE this defamation stuff.  I think about it every day and I put my heart and soul into learning about defamation law so I can help you and my clients.  You're getting for free what I charge some of my clients big bucks to learn.  So make sure you read everything on this blog because it's worth its weight in gold.  

Now, without further ado (does anyone actually use that word anymore?) this week's Hotlinks served up Texas style:

1. The Biggest Verdict In Internet Defamation History! - I'm so pumped about this hotlink because it silences all the naysayers.  Lawyers ask me why I got involved in internet defamation law all the time. They tell me me stuff like:  "defamation cases are too hard, or, "there's no damages in defamation cases.

Well . . .  what about this case, huh? 

A jury in Texas just handed a 12.5 MILLION DOLLAR verdict  in favor of Orix Capital Markets, LLC in an internet defamation case!

Do I really need to follow-up on this one?  I think it speaks for itself, but I'll say it anyway.  Internet defamation cases are important and valuable, provided, of course, that you have an attorney who knows what he or she is doing.  You really do need an internet defamation attorney to handle a case like this.

2. Clemens Strikes Out - Okay.  So I couldn't resist the obvious baseball metaphor here and it really isn't true that he struck out.  What happened here is that a large part of his lawsuit against the trainer that allegedly gave him steroids was dismissed.  Apparently, the court didn't think there was jurisdiction for some of the statement allegedly made by the trainer about Clemens.  Also, the court found that some of the statements were privileged because they were part of an ongoing federal investigation.

3. Anonymous on the Internet! Yeah right!  I've said it before and I'll say it again . . . you're not anonymous on the Internet and I can back it up with 178 reasons.  A court ordered a website to hand over identifying information about 178 people who left comments on the website.  A bunch of pro-defamation groups went through the roof when they found out about this decision.  They were saying that this violated the First Amendment and they used really scary words like "chill, "ominous," and "dangerous."  The reality is that the First Amendment doesn't protect defamatory speech.  It never has.  So next time you publish something on the Internet that you wouldn't otherwise say in real life, you better think twice.

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