Legal Question in Technology Law in California

Re: Defacing my name and my family name on commercial web-site.

It would be tough to get money damages from him unless you can show actual damages, which it does not sound like you can (at least not yet).

If you have ten or twenty thousand dollars to spend on litigation, you may be able to get a court order requiring that he make changes to the web site, but we would more information even to determine whether that is realistic.

Re: Defacing my name and my family name on commercial web-site.

Although your question does have computer and technology aspects, the core issue here is an old-fashioned tort -- defamation. You might get more (and better) replies to your question if you asked it under a different LawGuru heading. Probably "personal injury and tort law."

You mentioned that your sister already has a lawyer. It would be important to know why this lawyer hasn't been successful in putting a stop to the offending activities. Maybe your sister hasn't made a sufficiently clear and forceful request to the lawyer; maybe she isn't willing to pay what it might cost; maybe your sister really doesn't have a case; or maybe the lawyer is incompetent, or practices in a different area of the law.

There are perhaps two types of tort action that could be brought. If the ex-husband is publishing untrue statements, this could be defamation, which is further classified as slander (if spoken) or libel (when set down in a permanent medium such as print, electronic recordings, etc.). Truth is a defense to a suit for defamation; actual damages must often be proven; and courts are reluctant to find in favor of defamation plaintiffs whenever there is a possibility that the defendant was merely exercising a First-Amendment right of free speech. There are complex rules to distinguish protected speech from defamation.

The second tort category protects people from unnecessary and malicious repetition of personal facts, even if they are true. It's called something like "public dissemination of private facts" or something like that (I don't practice tort law). An example might be publishing a statement like "John Doe lets smelly farts" or "Jane Roe takes Valium to control her awful temper." If Doe and Roe are private citizens, not in the public spotlight, publishing these tidbits might be actionable even though, since true, they don't fall within the definition of defamation.

As a practical matter, threatening to sue or actually initiating a lawsuit might be enough to get the ex-husband to desist; that wouldn't be too expensive. However, you'll need very good legal advice as to whether you have a case under current standards, whether you have recoverable damages, and whether the ex has defenses such as truth or free speech. Free speech rights are quite extensive when matters of public concern are involved in the alleged defamation.