It’s a great way to start a weekend.
A private investigator knocked on my door not 15 minutes ago and handed me a letter from the Connelly Law Offices (signed by Jennifer Neilson Connelly).
Her client, Globe Energy ECO-Systems, objects to a post on PeoriaIllinoisan’s blog that includes comments (originally posted on PJStar.com) from a former employee. Globe insists the former worker violated confidential information and that the posting of these comments on The Blog Peoria Project were also illegal.
The attorney is giving me until Monday to remove the comments or he will file a lawsuit on Monday.
I’ll post the entire letter as soon as I get it scanned.
On, and here is the original post.
Any attorneys looking for a pro bono case? I mean, even if P.I. and I are in the clear here, I can’t afford an attorney. On the other hand, I don’t own a house and have no savings, I just might be judgment proof. On the other hand, I’m not in the habit of telling bloggers what they can or cannot blog about, and I really, really, really hate it when someone tried to intimidate me or one of my bloggers.
And there is this to consider: Being the victim of company that is using the courts to silence critics could make peoriapundit.com and blogpeopria.com famous in the blogosphere.
Input and advice is welcome.
UPDATE: Well, that was quick. PeoriaIllinoisan took it down. I was kinda hoping to leave it up for a while so the information would be read even more than it would had Globe Energy not been so quick with the threats. So, here are the comments that has Globe Energy’s so upset.
I was employed there as the Human Resource Manager for about 8 months. With the exception of the Army I have never been around such a foul mouthed individual that was part of upper management. In the eight months that I was employed there I witnessed on several occasions of verbally abusing the young ladies that run his office. [...] I hired a woman to work as the security guard there and told to call her back and rescind my offer to hire because she was a woman. While I was recruiting for an office assistant it was made clear to me not to hire an older unattractive woman. When I was let go for standing up to his constant bullying. I was told by the Vice President to go back to the ghetto. I am an African American by the way.
I Marcus Allen was employed by Globe year and a half ago and was one who got laid off. I’m far from disgruntled like Jones said i am so glad to get laid off from them. They treated you like a dog and their motto was work first and family wasn’t important so get your priority’s straight. I will never go back to a place like that even for a million dollars.
Bottom line beware of this employer, dignity and self respect are worth more than what they pay.
I have until Monday to decide whether to take the comment down.
And here is the original Journal Star article.
I am going to work now, where I will stew over this for eight solid hours.
Tags: blogpeoria, globe energy, intimidation, lawsuits, threats
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Well… no need to get in a legal spat with that guy over a silly little post. Besides, “I have a Ferrari and a $3 million house in the U.K. I don’t need this abuse.”
Giving in the threats over silly posts creates a bad example. Let it be known you cave in quickly, then every twerp with an elevated opinionof himself is doing the same thing.
So in the absense of advice telling me I’m in the wrong, It’s staying up.
Local Attornies will not help individuals locally because your for a short time and the company is for a longer time and deep pockets and employees people and all the attornies play golf together eat lunch together = not fair for person needing help
Need to get a attorney from far away
In most cases I’d wait to hear the other side of the story before forming an opinion, but this company spoke loud and clear with their actions. “Confidential information?” That’s corporatese for “unflattering truths.”
Keep fighting the good fight, Billy. Hopefully one of those “mushy-thinking lefties who regurgitate the crap their professors told them” will sympathize with your cause and give this some publicity.
You have some dirt on their company image. The company will fight to the death to protect the company image!
Be alert for some dirty tricks.
Perhaps the PJS got a similar letter as it has removed the comments from its article.
I’ve heard nothing but bad things about this company since they got to town. They certainly have been a disappointment.
If that’s the case, the PJS needs to grow a f***ing spine. Then again, they’re not exactly rolling in cash right now.
check with http://www.rcfp.org/ for someone nearby in their network
I suppose they will also be suing Google too? Billy didn’t need to post the offending piece in question, because Google has it all nicely stored for the Global Energized world to see. We don’t need this abuse.
Well, to the PJS’s credit, they did leave their original article up, which contains sourced information and quotes. On the other hand, the PJS doesn’t verify the claims of its commenters. So, I guess, to the paper, those are fair game to be refuted by anyone who comes along. But, I can just about imagine Glove wishing the PJS would take down the whole article. It’s not exactly glowing.
On another note, what is “confidential?” I’m no lawyer, but it seems unless an employee signed some kind of agreement with the employer, the employee can say and tell anyone about his experiences with that employer. Does anyone know?
Expect more of this kind of intimidation. As I recently learned, justice belongs to those who can afford the best lawyers.
“violated confidential information ”
What about that comment is confidential? Do you know that the comments are untrue?
You have nothing to worry about. Read this link. http://www.seobook.com/archives/001130.shtml
OOPS……you screwed up by posting the comment in a blog post.
http://www.eff.org/issues/bloggers/legal/liability/230
WEEK-TV still has their story about it up and comments still posted.
http://www.week.com/news/local/41531507.html
Did the Star get served with a lawsuit, too??
I’d be interested to see them try it Billy. The most they would get out of you would be injunctive relief demanding you remove it or be found in contempt. Any judgments are dischargeable. That piece of papers not worth much. PI on the other hand would have grounds to worry if he ignored an order to remove the document.
It’s clear they’re trying to bully you. Nice touch sending someone out to see you on a Saturday and giving you 48 hours to comply. The question is what real legal leverage they have. (It would be interesting to see what laws/grounds they cite in making this demand.) It’s a long shot, but I’d suggest a couple legal sources to contact. One is Anthony Falzone at the Fair Use Project at Stanford’s Center for Internet and Society. His email is anthony-dot-falzone-at-stanford-dot-edu. He may not be the guy to help you, but he might point you in the right direction. The other place to contact is the Electronic Frontier Foundation; they’re in San Francisco, but you might go to their website and try the contact numbers there. Again, they may not get directly involved but might be able to give you an idea of what your up against and who might be able to help you.
IMO, there are two issues here.
Was anything untrue or libelous in the posted comment itself? If not, then Globe has no case against the former employee. This is especially so if the comment contains evidence of a legal violation. Sine that is what appears to have happened, then even a confidentiality agreement has no validity. Such agreements can’t protect the company from its lawbreaking.
As for the post on your site and your own legal standing, I presume you aren’t a party to someone else’s confidentiality agreement. Since you’re not, then Globe has no case against you.
I see that you don’t currently have a “terms of use,” but you do note that posters are responsible for their own material. This just reinforces your own position, as you aren’t a party to the confidentiality agreement. You’ve made that clear, from what I can see, although it might be good to get some advice on how to make this more explicit.
BTW, our site has received aid from EFF in the past. Checking with them is a very good idea. However, I feel strongly that Globe has no case against you at all. We’ve had an incident or two over the years to deal with, but we beat the government in all cases so far. Good luck with settling this without having to surrender your rights.
It seems the beef they have with this post is between them and the original poster. They don’t like that it was written, period, not necessarily that it was posted on your site. A wiser use of their legal resources would be to investigate the truthfullness of the original claims as opposed to harassing you or any other Tom, Dick or Harry that writes about it. If the claims are true, which they probably are to some degree, the remedy should be to correct the actions of the persons responsible. Going after you is just shooting the messenger.
In addition, why would they think that YOU would be bound by a confidentiality agreement they have with THEIR employee. That’s just silly.
The crazy thing is, is that if they had just sent PI a nice friendly e-mail with a brief explanation, he very likely might have removed the offending comments out of his own good will.
So now if 25 bloggers pick up this story and reprint it with “fair use” in mind, will they sue those 25 bloggers as well? Wow. They’ll be busy!
You could try the ACLU for advice too.
They served you on the weekend and gave you til Monday most likely because they know that you won’t get enough informed lega advice before the week begins when advice will be more readily available.
Actions speak louder than words and the strong arm tactics of Global Energy in this case support the original posters claims instead of refute it. I would think the only possible leg Global Energy has to stand on is with the original poster and only for liable in that case, but then again, I’m not a lawyer.
The PJStar likely has lawsuit insurance. Under previous owners it had a long standing policy not to settle or back down. If it did, everyone in town would sue for a quick payout.
The article in question appears to be opinion and facts which are protected if true. Globe likely doesn’t have a case and wont go further, so don’t panic yet.
I drove by the building the other day and noticed it appeared to be vacant, so what’s with that? And who on the County Board voted to give them money, anyway?
Leave it up, Billy! Lawyers suck (unless they’re defending me!) Fight the good fight!
Billy, no one can responsibly give you advice without knowing the content of the letter, including what is being alleged.
Wow…Globe sounds a lot like Caterpillar!
‘Tis true what Nontimendum says, but many of us sleep at Holiday Inn Expresses regularly.
Did they send a big scary dude to serve you? Has this connely attny offered to do you yet? If not maybe that is next, I say you hold out until you get a hot sex offer from the attorney! It is all bullsh*t anyway, they would have hired a big time attorney if they really meant business. Instead they hire a small time woman that can be sent out to do some unpleasant task, the owner of Globe clearly would hire a man to do the job if he really intended to go through with it. Go Billy!!!
TF: Sexist much?
(OK, I concede to a bit of irony in me saying that, considering my eye candy posts.)
Most time lawyers send you letters on behalf of companies to scare you into doing what they want you to do instead of paying the money to sue you. It’s cheaper and sometimes work. Companies know that you are the site commenters post on and not the poster themself. Their suit would be against the employee for violating the confidentiality agreement, if there were one, not you. Unless you conspired with him after the fact to post it after he told you there was such an agreement. Finally, if from what I’m reading is true about what’s posted, no court would hold up an illegal agreement in the first place and what was posted sounds like actions that would make a company liable. What was the compensation for the poster. You can’t have an agreement/contract without both sides receiving some benefit. He just can’t be quiet for nothing. This is all hypothetically speaking af course and in no way legal advice.
Will you post the lawyer’s letter?
* Manual Trackback:
http://www.disarranging.com/review/archives/002760.php
We’ve all seen it. A corporation discovers something it perceives to be unfavorable written about it on the Internet…