Name and Shame

Have you ever named and shamed somebody, online or been tempted to or encouraged

somebody else. You need to be careful, with this one though because as the name

suggests name and shame the reason for  posting making it publicly known is to

lower people’s impression of the person. who you’re posting about and it might be

something true that you’re posting but, you have to be really careful because in

Australia not every state has truth as a defense to defamation and in other

countries where you know if it’s on the internet people can access the material

it might be defamation in another, country so and if you’re encouraging

people to name and shame others online, be careful as well because you could be

taken to have given them advice legal. advice and if they rely on it they could

then sue you because it’s cost them to, defend a defamation action and it could

be tens of thousands of dollars. So I was in a business group on Facebook the

other day and I saw a lady had paid a man to take videos of her course and she

was very unhappy she said the videos, were terrible quality and she’d paid him

a lot of money and he refused to refund her the money and so on the one hand she

really wanted a refund but then on the other hand she was saying should I let

everybody know what he’s done should I explain how difficult he was to work

with how unprofessional he was and should I tell you who it is you want to

know. And a lot of people said yes to us I don’t want to use the same guy but a

lot of people said name and shame him name and shame him. And it’s  a little bit

like a mob mentality but the reality is that if you do go ahead and name and

shame that guy even if he did completely mess it up you could be opening yourself

up to the up to defamation, so in that situation the answer to her question is

No! don’t name and shame him. Take him to court or go to mediation

QCAT if you are in Queensland small claims kind of court. The process is simple it’s easy

small businesses use it all the time to recover money he hasn’t provided what he promised and

that’s really the solution rather than risking your own livelihood and your own

money and your own reputation by being involved in in the the wrong side of a

defamation action. So my advice is don’t name and shame. And please don’t encourage

others to do it online My name is Cathryn Warburton and I’m the legal Liones

 

 

 

Categories: Copyright

Cathryn Warburton, The Legal Lioness

The Legal Lioness. Overcoming severe bullying as a child instilled in her a passion to protect others. As a skilled litigator, she indulges in her dream to push-back against business-bullies who target her clients. She is an international award-winning lawyer and patent attorney and 5-time published author. Cathryn bullet-proofs her client’s businesses and protects them like a mama lioness protecting her cubs. She makes sure that no business is left without access to affordable, easy-to-understand legal information. She does this through her books, proactive legal workshops and 1-2-1 legal services.