Libel/slander (Was: Re: South Creek Nursery Palmyra NY 14522)

I would be interested in what the list owners have to say in response to this.

Jeanne, with respect for your knowledge and opinion as a lawyer, to refrain
from commenting on the merits/demerits of a particular nursery denies one
of the major benefits of the mail list. Admittedly, the information can be
exchanged privately, but then only one person benefits from that information.

I see a difference between comments about a person vs. comments about the
quality of a business or service. I do not approve of, nor engage in the
former, but do think public comment on the latter is important if
businesses are to improve. What you are saying is that if I get on the mail
list and say that I dislike the Ford Whatever because I rented one once and
thought it was a cheap knockoff of the Honda Accord,  am I guilty of
libel/slander or just guilty of expressing an opinion?

I know these are tricky questions, and that someone out there is just
waiting for a test case to emerge to clarify the law, but still.....

Gerry

At 02:40 PM 1/9/00 EST, you wrote:
>Hi folks,
>
>With respect to discussing satisfaction with a nursery on the List, as
>opposed to responding off-list to the query:
>
>As a lawyer, I feel I must suggest that, while it is fine to ask whether
>others have had a satisfactory experience with a certain nursery, to avoid
>creating problems for the person posting the response and also for the
>ListServ, *all* responses to such a query should be made off-list, and
>privately, to the person asking the question.
>
>To say something negative about a person with respect to how that person
>makes his/her livelihood is to invite a suit for slander or libel. Of course,
>there are defenses, such as "Truth is a defense to libel", but who needs the
>grief?
>
>I would urge all participating in this discussion to keep the above in mind.
>
>Jeanne Hannah
>Traverse City, MI
>USDA 5b
>
>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index