Ask Me Help Desk - Florida slander laws

My former best friend and I moved in together,she was evicted by landlord... moved out and the day she moved out, she broke into my room and stole some of my belongings. Upset, I made a mock myspace page about her calling her a thief and detailing many incidents I encountered with her, she is now giving me 24 hours to remove page or is going to sue me or slander... I read a bunch of articles on what constitutes slander... and I do violate them... but this girl is a god awful sue happy individual always trying to make a buck at someone else's expense... are there any loopholes or tricks or tips anyone has to offer... I understand filing a slander lawsuit and actually taking it to the end is very costly and rarely makes it that far, true? People need to know to watch out for this person!

Slander is when someone utters (speaks) untruths about you. Libel is when someone writes untruths about you.

You said you wrote these things about her on a myspace page, therefore, this falls under the catergory of libel, not slander. If what you wrote was untrue, yes, she can sue you for libel however you are right, a case of this nature is often costly.

Quote:

Originally Posted by tiffgirl022

My former best friend and I moved in together,she was evicted by landlord....moved out and the day she moved out, she broke into my room and stole some of my belongings. Upset, I made a mock myspace page about her calling her a thief and detailing many incidents I encountered with her, she is now giving me 24 hours to remove page or is going to sue me or slander..........I read a bunch of articles on what constitutes slander.......and I do violate them...but this girl is a god awful sue happy individual always trying to make a buck at someone elses expense...are there any loopholes or tricks or tips anyone has to offer.........I understand filing a slander lawsuit and actually taking it to the end is very costly and rarely makes it that far, true??People need to know to watch out for this person!

I don't understand what you mean by a "mock myspace page." Did you post a page in her name? Or a post about her in your name?

If you researched what constitutes slander you should know this is not slander but it libel. It's all lumped into defamation of character.

What kind of loopholes, tricks and tips are you looking for? How to avoid being sued? How to win a suit? How to post a mock myspace page?

You have already admitted you have "slandered" her so if she finds an Attorney willing to take the cost on a contingency basis you are in for a lot of expense and possibly a verdict against you. Internet stalking as well as defamation are hot topics right now and law firms are looking for test cases.

Sounds like you posted the mock page more to get revenge or be petty than safeguard the World against your ex-roommate.

As wnk noted, the truth is a defense against both libel and slander. If she decides to sue, she has to show how she was damaged and you have to prove what you said was true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ScottGem

As wnk noted, the truth is a defense against both libel and slander. If she decides to sue, she has to show how she was damaged and you have to prove what you said was true.

My concern was that OP stated she reviewed the law and is in violation - but otherwise, as always, you are 100%.

I thought Myspace would also pull things if there were complaints - but maybe Myspace is open season.

I'm actually comtemplating a libel case angainst a former member here. She wrote a brief but bad review of my book on Amazon. It would be clear to anyone that she wrote the review because she was banned from this site. I doubt if she paid money to read it. I've reported it to Amazon, but it hasn't been pulled yet.

So, I think MYspace would need to have some proof to pull it.