Defamation by shareholder

How incredible it is that a single shareholder in a PLC  can cause the company tremendous amounts of financial damage just by using Twitter and other social media. Defamation by shareholders, often disgruntled shareholders, against their own company, is one of the most irrational acts that we have seen in recent years.

In the case of the international gold mining company RRR and its shareholder Gary Carp, the consequences of Mr Carp posting defamation against the company were particularly serious to the company and to the thousands of investors who at one point saw the value of their shares plummeting very sharply.

The company was left with no choice but to issue legal proceedings against its shareholder in order to protect the interest of the rest of its shareholders who were being scared off by dangerous speculation and  by highly defamatory conversations that Mr Carp initiated on various investors’ forums.

This was probably the first ever case in the UK of a PLC suing a shareholder over defamation on internet forums and on Twitter. The dilemma that the company faced,  whether legal action for defamation against a shareholder would be viewed as a bullying act or  whether it would be accepted as an act of protection, appreciated by other investors, was resolved very quickly when following the successful law suit, it received nothing but positive and encouraging feedback from its investors. The investors viewed the initiation of legal proceedings against their fellow shareholder as a demonstration of leadership by the company’s board of directors rather than an oppressive act and their confidence in the company grew.  Read about the case of  legal action against a shareholder instructed by Cohen Davis solicitors here.

Defamation on review websites.

There is now evidence that proves that between 16 per cent to 20 per cent of online reviews might be fake. Fake online reviews could be reviews in favour of a company or against it. If they are against it, they are likely to be defamatory and this is where we can help as a specialist internet law defamation law firm .

However, you are most likely to benefit from the support of an expert social media defamation solicitor if you want to remove a defamatory review without the need to obtain court orders.
Most Lawyers, particularly defamation solicitors and social media lawyers, are very well trained in spotting a lie.  Investigating evidence and finding inconsistencies…

Read full article on Defamation Reviews

I don’t mind being branded ‘bad lawyer’ by Yelp.com. After all, we are not exactly protecting the same interests when it comes to the painful issue of fake and fraudulent online reviews. It appears that according to Yelp.com, business victims of fake online reviews should learn to treat fake reviews like an act of God, with grace and acceptance.  But is this really the case?  Is it true that nothing could be done about fake online reviews on Yelp.com See more at: How to remove fake review from Yelp

What does UK law say about faking online reviews?

Although there is no specific law in the UK that prohibits publication of fake online reviews, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008  prohibits unfair commercial practices and faking online reviews is not doubt unfair.

Under UK law you can be prosecuted for faking  onlne reviews but so far there has not been any significant prosecution in this respect.  – See more at: http://www.internetlawcentre.co.uk/is-it-illegal-to-write-fake-online-review-uk

We imagine that we are detectives when we post on the internet our suspicious about almost anything. On the internet you could be anyone and everyone.

We imagine that we are a prosecutor a Judge and a Jury and all at the same time when we write our critical opinion about a person or about a business;

Read more on defamation solicitor blog

By: Yair Cohen

Our client asked:

Recently I purchased a luxury car from a respectable dealership. I ended up having a very bad experience and wrote the following review:

“I was horrified with the service and my experience was terrible. Don’t use this company”.

Today I received a letter from the dealership’s lawyers threatening me with legal action for defamation.  Can I be sued just for saying that I had bad experience?

Our defamation lawyer answered:

Generally speaking, if you make statements such as “horrific” and “terrible” without being able to back them  up with facts, and without giving all the relevant information in a balanced way, then you could be liable for defamation against the company because your statement is lowering the reputation of the company in the eyes of right minded people.

Related Articles:

• Using Online Social Media… Criminal Charges and/or Defamation (Part B)(quinnscattini.wordpress.com)
• Owner of ‘dirtiest hotel’ denied chance to sue TripAdvisor – again(bizjournals.com)

Communication Crisis Centre

Some business owners still find it challenging to have their marketing efforts incorporated into a full reputation management strategy.

So what is the difference between “marketing” and “online reputation management”? Are they one of the same or should each be treated completely separately?

Read more on Social media lawyer’s website

Author: Harassment lawyer Yair Cohen

Handling the Media in a Crisis: Why advance preparation to effectively deal with online reputation crisis management will pay off.

Handling the media during times of  crisis following online defamation has almost always proven to be a challenging task for the large, medium as well as for the smaller commercial organisation. 

Defensiveness often results in the opposite consequences of what was intended, making things much worst for the already suffering company with otherwise perfectly workable messages being twisted and manipulated to cause your organisation maximum damage.

On the other hand, silence could be construed as admission of guilt…Read more on defamation crisis by
Internet Law Lawyers – London

Following defamation of a company on the internet and the subsequent reduction in the value of their shares, can shareholders sue the defamer for damages?

Under some circumstances, the shareholders might be able to sue but their real legal challenge would be to prove causation between the defamation and the loss that they incur through the reduction of the value of their shares in the defamed company.

Get advice on defamation attacks and the effects it may have at the Internet Law Centre.

Defamation against a company can cause the company damage which is in excess to the damage which normally follows defamation against an individual.

Some people argue that because companies do not have feelings, defamation against a company should be treated by the court more lenient than defamation against an individual when it comes to awarding damages for defamation.

But what if defamation against a company brings the company share price down? Would the court take into consideration the feelings of the shareholders who lost money as a consequence of the defamation against the company?

Probably not because the company is a distinct legal entity the court will consider the feelings of the shareholders as irrelevant to any legal action which is brought by the company.

The Internet Law Centre gives free impartial advice to online defamation.

Firstly, defamation against a company might damage the reputation of products or services that the company sells, resulting in lower sales. Secondly, defamation against a company might result in difficulties to raise investment, and thirdly, defamation against a company might result a slap to the company’s share price, defamation of a company could therefore result in a simultaneous loss of confidence by both customers and investors at a time when the company is in urgent need for cash.

This might result in the company exposing itself to a hostile takeover.

Are you being defamed over the internet?  Visit us at the Internet Law Centre.

Occasionally a spate of defamation against a company, particularly on the various investors’ forums, has the potential of influencing the company shares price which means there could be a sizeable portion of shareholders who lost some of their money as a direct result of defamation against the company.

In such case, can a company sue the defamer for damages for the loss of value of its shares?

The general answer is no because the company and its shareholders are separate legal entities, the shareholders will need to sue for damages independently of the company, after all, it is the individual shareholders who lost their money following the defamation on the company as opposed to the company itself.

Letter of apology for defamation – defamation against a company

Visit the Internet Law Centre for professional and unbiased advice.

Internet Law Centre

Read more: Defamation against a company