Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Customer is slandering our business!

We have a long-time customer who, over the years, has become a personal friend with the owner of our company. Recently, this personal friend/customer has run into a disagreement with the owner of our company. The customer has recently cancelled his monthly service with our company. In addition, he knows a handful of our other monthly customers throughout our network and has written a letter stating that he ''has spoken'' to those other customers. What are our legal rights in this situation?


Asked on 9/19/06, 11:42 am

2 Answers from Attorneys
Mark S. Moroknek Kelly & Curtis, PLLC.

Re: Customer is slandering our business!

It depends on what he has said, and how he has said it. If he has made disparaging, false statements about your business that are not stated as "opinion" but meant to be factual,

and the business sustains damages, you may sue him and, if he is an officer of another company, and made the statements in that capacity, the company as well.

Please feel free to contact me if you wish to discuss this further.

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Answered on 9/19/06, 1:31 pm
Stephen Loeb Law Office of Stephen R. Loeb

Re: Customer is slandering our business!

Unless you have a non-disclosure agreement with the customer or he is saying things which are verifiably untrue, defamatory in nature and belevable to third parties, there is no recourse against the customer. Otherwise you may be able to bring a lawsuit for defamation.

Should you like to discuss this or any other legal matter, you can e-mail me for more information about low cost face-to-face, on-line, or a telephone consultation with a lawyer in our office.

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Answered on 9/19/06, 2:21 pm


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