Recieved a legal notice!!

[Arsh]

Here's the story. We run a community-based forum and have a chit chat about daily news, current affairs etc. Back in 2008, we posted a story and had a chat about a guy who killed his wife. This story was in the media too. The alleged killer was later released on bail and the case is still in the court. So basically, the alleged killer hasn't been cleared of the crime yet - he's just out on bail

Now the lawyer of the alleged killer has contacted us and asked us to remove the topic claiming it has caused his client severe trauma and all that bullshit. He has given us one week to remove the notice otherwise he's going to take the matter up.

Even though removing the content won't make much difference to us, I'm peeved that a lawyer can come and tell us what to do. The website is hosted and run in US so we should be safe under free speech. I don't want to take the thread down. What do you guys think?

[Carnage]

I have no legal experiance at all, however unless there is slander/libel in the posts, there won't be anywhere to take it up to. I don't think that internet harrassment laws can apply since you've had no direct contact with the client.

Personally, I'd offer to IP ban the client from the website to avoid any further trauma by him accidentilly reading it. However, since the reason the lawyer is probably doing this is to try and remove any bad press that might be seen by a potential jury member that probably won't be acceptable because of that it seems very unlikely that the lawyer would want to take it any further as it would risk more bad press.

At the end of the day, its your ass on the line, so its probably a good idea to speak to a lawyer of your own to get legal confirmation of where you stand.

[Marco van Herwaarden]

You should really ask a legal professional this question. All answers you will get here will be opinions.

You will need to remind yourself that maybe he has not been cleared yet, he also has not been convicted. This has probably nothing to do with freedom of speeche but with libel.

[Arsh]

Thanks, guys. I just need some informal advice and opinions. I wouldn't bother with getting a lawyer cos I could save that cost by just deleting the thread.

[MrEyes]

I had a similar thing a few years ago

A member started a thread asking if anybody had heard of company XYZ, the member had found their website and seen some very cheap prices so asked the my community about them. Nobody had heard of them but some expressed concerned on the basis of "too good to be true", the companies domain being registered to a private individual, no physical contact information available on the site, the company not being registered with any authorities.

The thread rapidly disappeared and was forgotten, however because of my amazing SEO skills this thread was ranked higher than the companies own website in Google - as a result of this my site appeared on their radar - rather than contact me to discuss in a friendly manner I received a cease and desist notice from their lawyers.

They could have easily heeded the advice in the thread, put up some contact information etc etc and made good of the issues potential customers had identified. However they chose to go down the legal route first.

My first reaction was to leave the thread in place, however after giving it some more thought I decided that I really didn't want the hassle. So I edited and closed the thread with a "thread edited/closed due to legal threats from company XYZ" message post. The lawyers were happy with this, issued closed.

However, the thread still ranks higher than the company and IMHO now shows an even worse picture of the company.

[BSMedia]

Originally Posted by Arsh

Here's the story. We run a community-based forum and have a chit chat about daily news, current affairs etc. Back in 2008, we posted a story and had a chat about a guy who killed his wife. This story was in the media too. The alleged killer was later released on bail and the case is still in the court. So basically, the alleged killer hasn't been cleared of the crime yet - he's just out on bail

Now the lawyer of the alleged killer has contacted us and asked us to remove the topic claiming it has caused his client severe trauma and all that bullshit. He has given us one week to remove the notice otherwise he's going to take the matter up.

Even though removing the content won't make much difference to us, I'm peeved that a lawyer can come and tell us what to do. The website is hosted and run in US so we should be safe under free speech. I don't want to take the thread down. What do you guys think?

They can't, and he has no legal right to make or tell you to remove the content from your site. Leave it there, call his BS bluff and when he attempts to have you take it down, counter sue and profit.

He'll have to file the complaint in your home city court system, so even if he does you can just go show up answer his questions, tell the judge that the posts on your site belong to the users and not you, and they fall under freedom of press (not speech).

I wouldn't remove it, I'd leave it there and continue to operate as normal.

[Arsh]

Thanks guys, we took the original content out but left the discussion there. The guys is cool with that. I realize that we probably would have gotten away with not deleting the content but we didn't want to get into that and spend our energies when there is little at stake.

[Carnage]

Out of interest, does your site turn up in google's top ten/twenty when you search for the guys name? or search for thigns relevant to the case; maybe his wife's name?

[Arsh]

Originally Posted by Carnage-

Out of interest, does your site turn up in google's top ten/twenty when you search for the guys name? or search for thigns relevant to the case; maybe his wife's name?

Yes, it does. That's why I'm pleased that SEO is working.

[static-skillz]

I wouldn't have removed it, as I have never heard of a forum being held accountable of its users views .

More than likely, they were just trying to bully you into removing it, which I've had attempted with me in the past.