Anthony DiPierro wrote:
On 4/23/06, Michael Snow wikipedia@earthlink.net wrote:
Anthony DiPierro wrote:
On 4/23/06, Daniel P. B. Smith wikipedia2006@dpbsmith.com wrote:
From: "Anthony DiPierro" wikilegal@inbox.org
So someone goes to a community corkboard in an apartment building and writes "John Heybobarebob is gay" on the bathroom door. Then the owner of the apartment building sees the defamatory statement, takes down the message, and stores it in a closet with a bunch of other removed messages. Then a janitor goes into to the closet, takes the message, and creates photocopies which she proceeds to hand out to people.
You think the building owner can be sued?
I'm _certain_ the building owner can be sued.
The question is, can the plaintiff win? That's a completely different question... and since IANAL I wouldn't even try to guess.
C'mon now, there are plenty of people who are not lawyers who are trying to guess. Surely the fact that you are not a lawyer is not the reason you wouldn't even try to guess.
No, the real reason he isn't trying to guess is because he has good sense. You don't see any lawyers trying to guess, do you?
--Michael Snow
Are you implying that lawyers have good sense?
I certainly don't claim that for all of them, but they're probably as capable of good sense as the rest of the population.
Anyway, no, I don't see any lawyers trying to guess, but lawyers tend to be greedy and not give away their expertise without getting paid for it - one of the reasons I'm not a lawyer.
Actually, most lawyers of my acquiantance are frequently willing to give their initial impression about a situation to people they know, without insisting on being paid. Any lawyer knows that one of the blessings/curses of their avocation is the inundation of friends and family with questions about legal issues, even if the appropriate response sometimes is, "You need to get a lawyer." However, lawyers generally prefer to deal with real situations, not made-up ones; this is at best a law school exam hypothetical, and they've already done enough of those, thank you very much.
Also, to the extent that this implicates a real situation, any sensible attorney should have an idea of who they're communicating with. To the extent that you're responding to a potential client, it's usually not a good idea to discuss it in a public forum, because then you've probably destroyed any attorney-client privilege that might exist for the communication.
--Michael Snow