I wrote an "article" and someone has threatened legal action if I don't remove it. Should I worry?

Question

I wrote about an incident that really happened to me and put it into more of a story format and posted it on my blog. It is here:

http://sionesays.blogspot.com/2008/04/dj-wars.html

The story in it is true and the emails were really sent in what I said happened, aside from making a few assumptions, but I don't think I made any assertions. The DJ in the story has demanded that I take this down or that legal action would follow and "authorities" would be alerted and informed. Is this something to worry about? I'm just not 100% sure about the legality issues dealing with libel and maybe defamation. It seems to me that I just basically wrote a bad review, much as someone would have done on Yelp or Citysearch...

Any thoughts or comments would be much appreciated! I don't want to get threatened and take it down just because of it! Thanks!

Answer 1

Better ask a lawyer licensed in your state.  Only they can give qualified legal advice.  The court will not look kindly on you if you believed the advice of someone qualified.

Answer 2

Someone wants to sue you for a bad review? Ha! Why if every rockstar...

If you felt you were fair and honest in giving your view and didn't try to ruin his reputation, then there is no cause for alarm. If he decided to take legal action, that just means he has a lawyer send you a letter asking you to remove the post. Now, this is work on his part and money as well. Since it's just a blog, is it really worth his time? That's really all he can do. If you don't, he could attempt to sue, but he has to have grounds for being hurt financially in some way. The courts need to hear a legitimate case, if he can't prove anything, its simply thrown out.

His feelings are just upset over the fact that some of his true colors came out. By the way, your blog is a good read. Thanks for sharing!

Answer 3

In order to sue you for libel or slander they must prove that you maliciously printed false information. Even if you wrote something that was untrue, you could prove that you were unaware that it was false and that you made an effort to investigate the truth. As for your assumptions, as long as you state them as opinions then you are safe. The DJ is probably unaware of the law and just wanted the story removed. You should be very safe. Don't give in, protect the right of free press (not free speech other answers).  

Answer 4

I'm not sure, but wouldn't you be protected under your right to "freedom of speech"?

Answer 5

Although I'm in no way an expert, I doubt that they can do much about it really. Everyone is entitled to an opinion. Maybe if you just remove the name?

Answer 6

I read the blog and was a bit confused as to what you could sued for.

Rather than comment on the blog itself, I can tell you that the only way he can force you take it down by threatening legal action, is if anything that you said about him is untrue. If anything you said about him or the other DJ is untrue, either one of them can sue you for libel- which is akin to slander except libel is written and slander is spoken.

If what you said is true, regardless of what you said about him or the other DJ, neither one of them can sue you. However, judging by the unprofessional "appearance" of demeanor by the first guy (I think Marty is his name) I doubt very seriously that he would sue. He doesn't seem well-versed enough to be able to go to an attorney to explain why he thinks he'd have a case against you. Unless he has a friend (attorney or otherwise) who can intelligently put his case together, no attorney would touch this. The only way an attorney would is if Marty was willing to pay a lot of money.

I personally don't think you have anything to worry about and have no reason to take it down. To be on the safe side, talk to an attorney who does pro bono work or if you have a legal aid department in your town, go talk to them.  

Answer 7

Unless you wrote an article that didn't speak the truth, then you have nothing to worry about. If individual names were used without permission, and contained explicit information, you might have to print a retraction.