If someone came into my parents' place of business, and ate a donut they didn't like, and paid more for it than they thought it was worth, and thought the kid behind the counter was rude, and then this person went out to dinner with some friends and said, in a public place, "Man, that place was bad today. The service sucked and the product wasn't worth the price." If that happened, would you think my parents had the right to sue that person? What if this was said on a blog?
Mom and Dad wouldn't be happy, that's for sure, but would they have the right to take that person to court?
Apparently there are some attorneys in town who would say Yes.
My friend Kat had a recent unpleasant experience with a company called JL Kirk & Associates. She posted on her blog about her unpleasant experience, and a conversation ensued regarding the seemingly-sketchy way they handled her and her husband's situation. An employee of this (allegedly) professional and esteemed company came to Kat's blog and posted confidential information about Kat and said some nasty things. Kat moved that comment to her front page so that everyone could see the actions of this person for themselves.
Now Kat's been threatened with a lawsuit if she doesn't remove all of this.
It's a bunch of bullshit. From what I can tell, she has done anything that would warrant a winnable lawuit, and the lawyer who wrote this letter should know that - he works for the pre-eminent First Amendment experts around. They are simply attempting to bully her into taking back what she said.
More reasonable people would probably reach out to her and try to resolve the situation by putting her fears and concerns to rest. They might even let it go, knowing that it would blow over and there are plenty of other people who haven't read her story who will buy their services. But now, the story is spreading around Nashville blogs like wildfire.
And so I and many of the other local bloggers are taking her story even more public. We may all get letters telling us to stop. I don't know. I do know that in America, I can express my opinion about someone freely, and I think these people are just awful, based on the way they have handled this situation.
But to see what all the fuss is about, and to get the links so that you can repost them on your blog, you can start at Nashville is Talking, where Brittney has linked all of the major action so far. Be sure to read her original link, as well, where there are some great suggestions and analysis of the situation in the comments.
For what it's worth, Kat is one of my favorite people in the Nashville blogging community. When I was hurting and looking for work two years ago, she emailed me encouragement and helped me find some work, even though we'd never met face-to-face. I find her to be consistently kind, strong, intelligent, and fun, and highly recommend her blog for regular reading.
It pisses me off to see someone go after her in such a nasty way. No wonder people hate us lawyers.
Mom and Dad wouldn't be happy, that's for sure, but would they have the right to take that person to court?
Apparently there are some attorneys in town who would say Yes.
My friend Kat had a recent unpleasant experience with a company called JL Kirk & Associates. She posted on her blog about her unpleasant experience, and a conversation ensued regarding the seemingly-sketchy way they handled her and her husband's situation. An employee of this (allegedly) professional and esteemed company came to Kat's blog and posted confidential information about Kat and said some nasty things. Kat moved that comment to her front page so that everyone could see the actions of this person for themselves.
Now Kat's been threatened with a lawsuit if she doesn't remove all of this.
It's a bunch of bullshit. From what I can tell, she has done anything that would warrant a winnable lawuit, and the lawyer who wrote this letter should know that - he works for the pre-eminent First Amendment experts around. They are simply attempting to bully her into taking back what she said.
More reasonable people would probably reach out to her and try to resolve the situation by putting her fears and concerns to rest. They might even let it go, knowing that it would blow over and there are plenty of other people who haven't read her story who will buy their services. But now, the story is spreading around Nashville blogs like wildfire.
And so I and many of the other local bloggers are taking her story even more public. We may all get letters telling us to stop. I don't know. I do know that in America, I can express my opinion about someone freely, and I think these people are just awful, based on the way they have handled this situation.
But to see what all the fuss is about, and to get the links so that you can repost them on your blog, you can start at Nashville is Talking, where Brittney has linked all of the major action so far. Be sure to read her original link, as well, where there are some great suggestions and analysis of the situation in the comments.
For what it's worth, Kat is one of my favorite people in the Nashville blogging community. When I was hurting and looking for work two years ago, she emailed me encouragement and helped me find some work, even though we'd never met face-to-face. I find her to be consistently kind, strong, intelligent, and fun, and highly recommend her blog for regular reading.
It pisses me off to see someone go after her in such a nasty way. No wonder people hate us lawyers.
Amen!
And I'm really not upset with the law firm, they're pretty much just doing what they were hired to do. I'm more upset with JLK and their actions. Plus, I wonder...did K&B make JLK pay upfront for their services??? (I really don't know how exactly that works in the legal field.)
what makes the blogger more trustworthy than the company? i read the response by the company and it more down to earth than said bloggers post.
just sayin'
Tiff, I note that "anonymous," above, posts in a curiously artificial manner.
The post appears to be attempting to adopt a "man-in-the-street" idiom, leaves out apostrophes, neglects to use the correct capitalization, and yet ... those of us who've read post responses that were genuinely written in a hurry, or genuinely written by the semi-literate, know that they don't sound quite like that.
I've also read the original posts over at Kat's blog.
I call bullsh*t. I think "anonymous" has an agenda, and should go get kirked.
Yo Tiff!
Actually, I thought the lady who posted from JL Kirk on KC's blog made way more sense than anything else I've read about this.
Then again, KC wrote a whole blog one time about how my fiancé is an elitist bitch because she complained at McDonalds.
Oh well!
As they say in the movies,
"Let him who is without sin cast the first stone."
Chris Slack
Chris-
I did know about KC's unfortunate feelings about your fiance. I disagree with her on that - I think your fiance's writing is just fantastic.
My point is just that, regardless of who is right or wrong in the Kirk situation, Kat absolutely has the right to write about the experience from her perspective on her personal blog.
"Kat absolutely has the right to write about the experience from her perspective on her personal blog."
Sure, I totally think people have the right to write about whatever they want online, short of libel. I'm just saying I don't "have her back" like everybody else seems to because of the baseless things she's written in the past attacking my spouse.
But I wish her the best of karmic luck in her impending lawsuit!
Sorry about that earlier comment. I was angry when I wrote it, and let my emotions get the best of me. Shouldn't have been so nasty.
Tiff-
Thank you for the kind words.
Chris-
I don't believe that I called Tracy a bitch anywhere in this entry or anywhere else.
"Bitch" is generally not a word I use in reference to anyone except myself.
I still stand by my opinion that Tracy's behaviour in that instance seemed elitist because of the reasons I described in my easily-accessed entry on the matter.
Saying that someone acted in an elitist manner and calling that person an "elitist bitch" are two different things.
And I personally took issue with what I believed to be Tracy's very weight-ist, fat-prejudice comments in the initial PITW entry.
So while I realise that Tracy's feelings were hurt, I think it her (and your) feelings might be less hurt if she didn't continue to mischaracterise the criticism against her actions as being criticisms against her person.
Yep. I triple-checked.
And nowhere did I make the remark you attributed to me, Chris.
"By now, you’ve probably heard all about the too cool for school Scene contributer slagging off a McDonald’s employee for offending her delicate sensibilities. This brings the creeping fog of Scene Elitism to a whole new level, and proves that it doesn’t take a lot of cash to be cruelly elitist in your attitudes."
later
The words aren't exactly the same!