Legal Question in Construction Law in Texas
My husband and I had to sue a contractor for failure to complete an outdoor kitchen project that began in November 2009. We settled with the contractor through our attorney at the beginning of Feb 10. I had posted comments on 12.28.09 to the CitySearch website giving them a bad rating. Part of our settlement was that we cannot slander the company name. They sent a letter to us last week saying that we are in violation of the settlement b/c of the poor reviews I submitted. I have tried to remove the reviews, but CitySearch doesn't allow removal of reviews......I have tried tirelessly and through research have found that they don't offer this service. I obviously don't want to violate our agreement with the contractor. My question is whether or not they can actually go after us for slander if the comments were made several months prior to the settlement? I haven't written anything since the case was settled. Thank you in advance for your help!
2 Answers from Attorneys
That is an interesting dilemma. I would check the settlement agreement to determine whether there is a mutual release of all claims. Since your alleged slander occurred prior to settlement, the construction company may have waived their cause of action against you.
The settlement agreement should be dated. Typically there is a definition of an Effective Date; if not, then there will be a date that governs when the agreement comes into effect.
The agreement might be interpreted to mean "Buyer will not slander Contractor" and the word "will" there obviously implies futurity, so it would only encompass acts done *after" the Effective Date in that case. Under this interpretation (if true), your acts would have been done prior to the Effective Date and hence would not violate the terms of the Agreement, which only (in that case, assuming the interpretation is true) extends to post-Effective-Date actions by Buyer.
However, the only way to answer is to examine the Settlement Agreement and the surrounding facts.
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