Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Alabama

Is this libel or defamation of character?

As a software engineer I participate in online mailing

lists to share answers to common problems we run

into when programming. Recently one of the groups I

belong to a person began bothering me by answering

my questions with ''go read a book''. In a later email I

mention that his ''tone makes him come off like a

complete jerk'' (exact words). Well the guy sends my

employer an email claiming I was unproffessional and

harming the name of my company by abusing people

on a mailing list. He portrays himself as some big wig

at a software company although he is only another

programmer like myself (only with delusions of

grandure). Anyway this lead to my employer inquiring

as to what was going on and calling me into his office.

(It didn't actually cause me any trouble but isn't it the

attempt through false claims that is the libel?) He also

claims I abused other members of the list which is

also false. A few questions are, does this sound like a

case? Where do I sue him, he's in Chicago I'm in

Alabama? If I sue him in small claims court does he

have to come down here?

Thanks


Asked on 4/09/02, 3:12 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jon Lewis Lewis, Feldman, & Lehane, LLC

Re: Is this libel or defamation of character?

You would have to prove that his statements were false, and because of the false statements, you were harmed. Your main problem is showing where you were damaged. with respect to the jurisdictional question, the internet is posing some real issues with jurisdiction. Did this guy know you were in Alabama? If so, you could contend that when he put false statements on line about you, he would have known that he could be called into court in Alabama. The test is "minimum contacts". I don't think a court would subject him to jurisdiction here, but it would be up to the judge. If the judge allowed it, he would have to come to court here, and if he didn't, you would get a default judgment which you would have to domesticate in his state and have an attorney there collect for you. Once that happened, he would probably object to the judgment on jurisdictional grounds, and a judge in his state would have to decide if his objection would be valid.

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Answered on 4/09/02, 4:19 pm


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