[OT] FOAK: Libel

Is it true that preceeding a statement about a company with the word
"allegedly" protects you from a libel case, or have I been watching too

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

And don't do it anyway, ytc.

[snip]

HIGNFY pah, try this http://www.order-order.com/

much HIGNFY?

ODNAFSA....

The latter

I thought as much.

I'm about to launch a website in an attempt to cost a company as much
lost business as possible, but as they're extremely litigious, I'm a

I'm not the sort of person to just let these things go, as one
individual & one company know to their cost.

Then don't do it, if you are not *made* of money.....

tad concerned about covering my arse. All of the information I'm
including is true, but not all of it can be proven, iyswim.

Then state only what is true, and can be proven. Anything else can be
alluded to in such a way that the meaning is obvious. Think in terms of
'Private Eye' or Mark Antony's speech in 'Julius Caesar'. You can always
use phraseology along the lines of 'someone not a million miles from', 'of
course it would be dreadful to say that ...' or 'isn't it a curious
coincidence that ...' .

With thought and caution it can be done in a way to neutralise the danger of
being sued. The English language is a beautiful and subtle weapon in
circumstances like this.

That's not a bad plan. It's still very much a WIP so plenty of scope to
woolify it.

Try to make it funny, as well as indignant. People and businesses cannot
stand being ridiculed. If the exposure of your target's naughtiness leads
to [the equivalent of] people laughing at the MD in the street, or plaguing
the switchboard with nuisance calls, so much the better.

Especially from the mouths of barristers

My friend's an attorney in New York he once said to me. Justice. Innocence.
Guilt. Don't be silly, it's all about presentation.

As Molly said, there's an intent to do damage. Also, the onus will be
on you to prove the statements that you make are true.

This is what happened to the McLibel bods.

A few years ago the company I was working for took someone to court for
doing the same thing. The judge said something along the lines the intent
was to do damage and the statements made were at best misleading. We won.

The statements definitely aren't misleading in this case, unlike the
contract used by said company (which contains an unlawful clause
according to our solicitor).

I don't think "allegedly" protects you - but why not ask your
solicitor?

I'll forward him a copy before putting it live. I'll also send a copy
to the company concerned, asking them if they consider any of it
libellous, & offering to include any comments they make on the website.

Its not really about whether your liabling them or not , its more about
you having the funds to defend a case if they do launch proceedings
against you , many a person has lost a case purely because the people
they are fighting have far more money to throw at it than themselves
and end up rolling over

Take some seroius advice from your solicitor

At least by stating that your objective is to make them lose as much
business as possible, the calculation of damages will be made more
straightforward if you go ahead...

That was probably badly worded. My intention is to let people know what
the small print in this company's contracts actually means, & how it
affects their rights. The more people who know, the less business this
company will get.

Why not just stick to the information that is provable?

It's hard to know what is ultimately provable. E.g. some of the facts
are blindingly obvious, but only provable in as much as one of the
company's employees has offered to stand in court & state they're true.
When push comes to shove though...