A Heads Up and reminder about slander and libel

[admin]

Given that some people (not on this site) have sabre-rattled I thought I'd give a heads up over what does and doesn't constitute libel or slander:

paganassoc.proboards25.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=1101743544&page=1 gives a fairly good run down of current English and Welsh law.

There is no legal aid available for slander or libel action, and a bond of between £10,000 and £100,000 is generally asked for by any court with such proceedings. This bond can be in the form of property, but if you rent, are a council house tenant and haven't got any savings - people can say pretty much what they like about you! But then the law was never meant for poor people!

The infamous "solicitors letter" is generally used as a business tool, not by private individuals. If you do get one that is merely sabre rattling then I suggest that you report this to your local MP as a waste of taxpayers and legal aid money (Unless of course, the individual asking the solicitor to send the money has actually had to pay for it himself, in which case you get the pleasure of knowing you've just cost them £25.00 - £35.00 and forced them to contribute to the solicitors holiday fund!)

Regarding internet communication, if anyone receives any obnoxious or nasty emails, the first port of call is to report them, with a copy of the email and full headers included to the relevant abuse address, e.g. [e-mail]. If it's something on an internet forum or web page, then use www.samspade.org to find out what the ISP is for the web page and report to their abuse page. Whilst one obnoxious email may be ignored, if many are coming through from one particular IP address then the ISP will have to do something about it. Particularly nasty or threatening letters, phone calls etc. will, of course, be covered by the current laws regarding hate mail and these are often deal with speedily by the police.

Thanks for reading!


Rhiannon

[ian]

Very interesting, thanks for that info Rhiannon.

Puts a whole new slant on the, Oh so scary 'solicitors letters',

[saxonheathen]

Does that include letters from Winona Ryders lawyers threatening restraining orders?

Purely as a hypothetical question, of course.

[Drachenfach]

Why, have you received one?

[admin]

In the case of Winona Ryder, no - if the letter is to do with restraining orders and the case has a chance of winning in court, then no. What a solicitor shouldn't waste time (and tax payers money!) doing is sending letters about things that have no chance of succeeding in court. A restraining order can ONLY be issued by a court, not a solicitor, so I guess ultimately any such letter from a solicitor would be meaningless, wasting tax payers or the payees money

Again, as Winona doubtless has the money to put up a bond of £100,000 or so, she would also be able to follow through any complaint to do with libel or slander, whereas a poor person would not, and a solicitor in the latter case would not be justified sending any letter threatening action for libel or slander. If they were acting for Winona Ryder, then they would as she can afford the legal costs of such a court case.

A solicitor's letter is meant as a final warning that if things do not change then the case will be presented at court. Obviously if the case has no chance of making it to court it is just sabre rattling and the solicitor is wasting either tax payer's or the client's money. That is why solicitor's letters are usually only sent for business purposes, i.e. that a debt is owed. Such debts can usually be taken to the small claims or local magistrates court, for a very small fee and therefore justice in this case would be available to anyone who could afford the couple of hundred necessary.

Of course, any genuine case requiring a restraining order, e.g. one involving threats of violence, malicious phone calls, or other forms of harrassment, would be dealt with by the police and you would not need to employ a solictor to write the letter in the first place, unless of course you were someone who was into wasting your own or legal aid money.

Hope that makes it clear.

bb
Rhiannon

[admin]

saxonheathen said:

Does that include letters from Winona Ryders lawyers threatening restraining orders?

Purely as a hypothetical question, of course.

Uh oh - you been bombarding her with marriage proposals AGAIN!!??

[ian]

Isn't it strange how it only ever seems to be the people who can claim legal aid that get solicitors to send out these type of letters.

I personaly think that the people that get the solicitors to send out the letters and indeed the solicitors themselves should be taken to court for defamation of character, hard one to prove i know but it would be good though ;D

[admin]

Catch 22 - to prove defamation of character (i.e. libel) you'd need to have the money to put up the bond! That's why I recommend taking the matter to your MP so they can rattle the Law Society cage or you could try complaining directly to the legal aid pursestring bods.


bb
Rhiannon

[ian]

or you could try complaining directly to the legal aid pursestring bods.

This one might be a good idea, maybe then these people wouldnt be able to just send out these letters to whoever they feel like, willy nilly, and would have to prove a certain part of what they were saying was true, before the solicitor was willing to send the letter.


OH shit..... Runs and hides, awaiting the postman with the latest addition of the 'scary solicitors letters'

[admin]

ian said:

This one might be a good idea, maybe then these people wouldnt be able to just send out these letters to whoever they feel like, willy nilly, and would have to prove a certain part of what they were saying was true, before the solicitor was willing to send the letter.

Whether it is true or not doesn't matter - it's whether the case would stand up in court, and whether those bringing the case had the funding to bring it. That's the important thing. As I said earlier - no justice for the poor when it comes to libel or slander.

bb
Rhiannon

[kharma]

Isn't it strange how it only ever seems to be the people who can claim legal aid that get solicitors to send out these type of letters.

The legal aid is easy to claim for solicitors letters, but if someone was to try and take it further they would need serious hard facts against you, because of the amount of cost in taking any claim of abuse, harrasment etc further.

So unless Miss Ryder has you on camera posting those letters you'll get away with it.

Jo