Legal Question in Technology Law in Wisconsin

Re: E-Mail legal contract & written defamation

A binding contract can be made via email, just as one can be made via regular mail or orally. Whether your agreement is binding depends upon facts you haven't provided, but the mere fact that it was done via email doesn't prevent the agreement from being a valid contract.

You seem to be playing word games here, since you say you agreed to "donate" (your quotation marks) money to purchase something. You either donated or made a purchase, not both. Money traded for an item is a purchase, so calling it a donation doesn't help you.

And "checking references" does not justify reneging on a binding contract. If you need to check references, you have to do so before making the deal and not after.

I'm also concerned about your unwillingness to reveal what "the item" (again, your quotation marks) is. If it is something illegal, then you do not have a binding contract since illegal contracts are not enforceable.

If he is threatening to sue you and if the "item" is something legal, you might want to take his threat seriously -- especially if the "item" is worth suing over.

The bottom line is that you agreed to a purchase, accepted delivery, decided not to pay and then sold the item -- so you profited by your wrongdoing.

As to his comments on the internet, they sound accurate to me. If you concealed from the seller that you intended not to pay if his references didn't check out, then you committed fraud. You also seem to have committed theft by false pretenses, and it seems he is right about you using fraud and deceit for your own profit, since you admit selling this item that you didn't pay for. True statements cannot be deemed defamatory, so there isn't much you can do about what he is saying.

Posting your personal information may or may not be an issue, but I'm not inclined to tell you how you might be able to argue such a case. From where I sit you have brought this upon yourself and I don't see any reason to help you get away with it.