i thought someone who was the victim of defamation had to have been so
harmed that there is a neg impact on their life. I would tell the
lawyer to stick it., he sounds confused. he is trying to jerk you
around. I'd wait till his paperwork comes thru(If it does). He's
trying to get you to settle out of court. some lawyers think people are
stupid. With your permission I'll call him. tell him u will counter
sue. you can tell i'm pissed.
judy
On Jun 19, 2009, at 15:23, Kevin Zeese wrote:
Your suggestions are welcome on the situation below.
Last September we saw someone walk across the alley behind Calvert to
the St. Paul side and pour gasoline over the door of a garage. We
could smell the gasoline from our house, about five doors down, and
then a person with us went up to it and confirmed that it was in fact
gasoline.
We thought this was bizarre and did not know what to do. We did not
know the persons intent but were concerned that if there was a fire it
could affect the whole block of row houses. If a neighbor had seen
someone do this to our house or the house next door we'd want them to
call the police, so we did.
The police sent out the arson squad. We never accused anyone of arson
but did report the pouring of gasoline.
Recently we found out that the individual was arrested and held over
in jail for three days, paying a $1,000 bond to get out. The police
wanted to charge him with attempted arson but the prosecutors felt
they could not prove it. The police/prosecutor never called us to
discuss whether there was anything more than gasoline being poured.
We received a letter from a lawyer, Howard Schulman, threatening to
sue us for defamation because we accused his client of attempted
arson. In the letter the lawyer acknowledged that his client did
indeed pour gasoline in the alley. He claimed it was to kill rats.
Pouring gasoline and other chemicals in the ally is itself illegal.
We wrote back saying that the lawyer had the facts wrong and we did
not accuse anyone of attempted arson, merely that he poured gasoline
on a neighbors garage -- something the lawyer admitted.
The lawyer wrote back with a draft complaint continuing his threat to
sue and telling us to have our lawyer or insurance company call him.
We contacted our insurance company which initially said they would
cover this, but now say they do not. They say they talked to the
lawyer and that he does intend to sue. He suggests we get a lawyer.
Of course, getting a lawyer would probably cost more than settling the
case but we do not want to settle a false claim or hire a lawyer.
We see this as a legal stick-up -- the type of thing that will
discourage others from calling the police when they see a crime.
Any suggestions? Any lawyers or others with experience with this?
Thanks.
KZ_______________________________________________
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