[WikiEN-l] Can the building owner be sued?

[Michael Snow]

Anthony DiPierro wrote:

>On 4/23/06, Michael Snow <wikipedia at earthlink.net> wrote:
>  
>
>>Anthony DiPierro wrote:
>>    
>>
>>>On 4/23/06, Daniel P. B. Smith <wikipedia2006 at dpbsmith.com> wrote:
>>>      
>>>
>>>>>From: "Anthony DiPierro" <wikilegal at 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