Be careful before you slam someone "anonymously" online

[CosmicCowboy]

Cosmic Cowboy, i have never heard of a libel case so absurd in my life

because of hearsay? the judge should have thrown her case out and told her to grow up.

that's ridiculous. are you telling the truth? because it doesn't make any sense that she would get 20k total just because you said something about her.

We tried to get it thrown out but the judge would not grant the summary judgment.

I know it was an absurd case, but libel cases simply come down to:

1) Was what was said true?

2) Were there damages and if so, how much?

In my case, it was her word against mine. There were no witnesses. The jury would have to decide which one of us they believed. Civil cases aren't like Criminal cases...they don't have to prove anything "beyond a shadow of doubt", just what is more likely true.

She was a real hottie. Lived in a nice house in Stone Oak (she was divorced from a surgeon), ran the country club circuit, etc. She looked and acted like your typical socialite. She would have run witness after witness in there telling them what a wonderful church going moral woman she was and how she would NEVER do anything that rude and crude.

The question we had was would a jury believe that she had checked out the bulge in my pants and given it a squeeze while she was kissing her "boyfriend" on the cheek... ...it was so over the top I had a hard time believing it happened.

As for damages, my friends dad was a multi-millionaire. If she could get a jury to agree that I "lied" about her and "interfered" with her relationship and that was the only thing that kept her from marrying the millionaire they could award hundreds of thousands in damages.

I was being defended on my homeowners policy which had a $100,000 limit for a claim like this and I had a lot to lose if she hit the jackpot with a friendly jury. My insurance company figured it would cost 50K+ just to get to trial and we all mutually decided it was best to settle.

[CosmicCowboy]

BTW, she had a VERY good attorney and he had crafted a very believable angle.

First, remember that my friends dad was a multi-millionaire (like 10+) with early onset alzheimers. My friend was an only child. This woman was 40 years younger than my friends dad. She had been doing everything she could to get my friends dad totally dependent on her and at the same time ruin his relationship with his son. She wanted to get married and she wanted the money.

The lawyers position was that the SON was at fault and was trying to break up the relationship so he wouldn't have to "share" the money. Their position was that he had gotten one of his best friends to conspire with him and "lie" about her and damage her reputation so the father would break up with her.

LOL his argument sounded a lot more reasonable than me saying that she squeezed my to verify that bulge was really real...

[Whisky Dog]

Mo Money Mo Problems...