Help or advice needed regarding defemation of character

[2001tme]

Hi everyone,

I have found myself in a situation where I am now unemployed and have just started to receive Jobseekers Allowance because of some jealous people over the last 12-18 months that have been using internet forums to tarnish my name and the name of my business. This has resulted in me having to close the business and I will now have to go bankrupt due to the debts I owe. These people are still trying to cause me harm and I have collected a lot of evidence over the last 2-3 years of trading that I think will prove I have a good case. But being unemployed now I can't afford to pay a solicitor to deal with this, I have been ringing around, emailing etc and so far every solicitor I have found that would deal with this has told me they want paying to even look to see if I do indeed have a case. Even when they have stated on their websites that they operate a No Win, No Fee system.

Can anybody on here possible point me in the direction of somebody who may be willing to help me?

At the moment due to no longer having a good income, it looks like these people will get away with what they have done to put me out of business.

Thanks,

Keith

[enquirer]

Re: Help or advice needed regarding defemation of character

Actions in defamation are something of a gamble. This is why solicitors want money up front. The probability of finding anyone to take this on as a pro bono case is vanishingly small.

If you have a good case and plenty of hard evidence, you could do it yourself. Many defamation actions are undertaken by litigants in person. Be aware however that it is something of a lottery, and if you lose, your costs will probably be astronomical, although if you are going bankrupt, this may not bother you overmuch.

[Loverat]

Re: Help or advice needed regarding defemation of character

My response would be similar to the above. However, if you cannot find a lawyer to act for you, you could try contacting the Pro Bono Unit which I believe have taken some cases on for people who cannot afford the costs of legal funding. The costs are still likely to be high although if you are unemployed you may get some sort of exemption from court fees.

I know you posted your question some time ago but I would like to ask this. While I accept that individuals can damage a business, how did they actually result in you going out of business? To me it is difficult to comprehend how individuals could be a sole and direct result of business failure.

One thing I would say is that there are many myths about defamation and it is amazing how little people know about it. For example, if you read the newspapers and mainstream media, you might be forgiven for thinking Lord McAlpine has an open and shut case. Not so and there are several reasons why any cases taken forward are likely to fail at the first hurdle.

If anyone is interested in defamation or the case I have mentioned, I will be happy to elaborate. Personally I think the Lord McAlpine cases are of massive public interest and there are many caught up in this who may be ignorant of libel law and the very poor media coverage does not help. In my opinion, in this climate and the pressure to settle from McAlpine's solicitors, this is something which should be covered on a site like this - if only to correct the misleading information in the media and misconceptions. I believe there are some similarities with speculative invoicing type practices which have been covered here. It also does not help that most solicitors know little about defamation - at least how it works in practice anyway. I have been involved in a few recent cases myself and contradictory to popular belief most defendants are winning their cases nowadays.

Happy to elaborate, assist or contribute to this subject as it is an area I have a good knowledge of and can contribute lots of recent relevant cases on internet libel and demonstate how they are relevant to most situations which arise.