any lawyers on this forum? - Page 3

jdoria · 12-18-06, 06:19

WOW - sounds familiar to me. I had this happen in my dealership. But it was between a parts guy and a billing clerk. The billing clerk was looking for "early retirement".

I'd get a local lawyer and go after the ignorant manager with a civil suit for publically accusing you of being a sex offender. (Defamation of character, libel) Then I would have the lawyer grab the girl and get her to identify you and put a time and date to the offense. Now you can subpoena the store for the video camera recordings. Dont mention it sooner, these low life people can claim they are on a 7 day cycle and are erased weekly.

If you did it, you didnt commit a felony, so who cares?
If you didnt do it, make these Jerry Springer watching hicks pay for the rest of their lives.

trhland · 12-18-06, 06:21

did you say you were going to detail her car naked? cause that might be harrasment

not sure

Autoeng · 12-18-06, 06:23

Leave it be. You want an apology? What good will that do you, make you feel better? You want free movies rentals for the rest of your life? Not gonna happen. You risk her bringing a civil suit where you will at least have to pay your attorney fees. Find another video store and get on with your life. Some hornet nests are better left alone.

Danase · 12-18-06, 06:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Autoeng

Leave it be. You want an apology? What good will that do you, make you feel better? You want free movies rentals for the rest of your life? Not gonna happen. You risk her bringing a civil suit where you will at least have to pay your attorney fees. Find another video store and get on with your life. Some hornet nests are better left alone.

One thing it might do is get the manager fired. The manager is in a position where she should know not to publicly accuse someone without being 110% sure. Just because some clerk said so doesn't make it true. I would be beyond ticked if I was publicly accused of something like this. For one, not only could it hurt your rep. but word spreads fast and it could end up hurting you more in the long run. If you had a business detailing who is going to want to bring their cars to someone they think is a pervert? You don't want someone like that in your neighborhood spreading rumors about you that are not true.

Setec Astronomy · 12-18-06, 06:34

Why am I the only one that thinks the police should have been involved in this? If the manager thought she had a legitimate report, but couldn't identify the perp until "he" came back to the store, she should have already apologized (if she realized she had made a mistake), or already detained the customer and called the police. As Danase says, I wouldn't want to leave any doubt that I was innocent and would have insisted that the manager call the police. And then after the police determined I wasn't involved, that would be the appropriate time for the civil suit.

AmericanBuffing · 12-18-06, 06:44

One word:

Netflix

SpoiledMan · 12-18-06, 06:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by Setec Astronomy

Why am I the only one that thinks the police should have been involved in this? If the manager thought she had a legitimate report, but couldn't identify the perp until "he" came back to the store, she should have already apologized (if she realized she had made a mistake), or already detained the customer and called the police. As Danase says, I wouldn't want to leave any doubt that I was innocent and would have insisted that the manager call the police. And then after the police determined I wasn't involved, that would be the appropriate time for the civil suit.

It's a civil issue and in these parts the police don't get involved in them.

kompressornsc · 12-18-06, 06:58

*** is everyone talking about? There is no sexual harrassment going on here, even if the story was true. You can walk up to anyone you please and say anything you please - still a free country. You can walk into a store and tell the clerk "I want to 'bleep' your 'blanking' head off." and the worst they can do is ban you from the store.

tdekany · 12-18-06, 07:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Autoeng

Leave it be. You want an apology? What good will that do you, make you feel better? You want free movies rentals for the rest of your life? Not gonna happen. You risk her bringing a civil suit where you will at least have to pay your attorney fees. Find another video store and get on with your life. Some hornet nests are better left alone.

dude - my issue is with the manager. Yes an apology is needed, my girlfriend cried all evening.

Did you read what I said? What 43 year old man would disrespect his girfriend like that? You have to be worse then a jerk to do that. And what does that make her?

Next time your parents go into a store and if it happens to them make sure to give the same suggestion.

What if this was done to your girlfriend? Meaning someone asked her what I am accused of? Whould you let it slide?

Quote:

Some hornet nests are better left alone

True - She should have left us alone.

Danase · 12-18-06, 07:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by kompressornsc

*** is everyone talking about? There is no sexual harrassment going on here, even if the story was true. You can walk up to anyone you please and say anything you please - still a free country. You can walk into a store and tell the clerk "I want to 'bleep' your 'blanking' head off." and the worst they can do is ban you from the store.

What everyone is talking about is someones reputation being ruined.

CatVert68 · 12-18-06, 07:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danase

I don't think the noobs understand how many different people we have on these forums. Asking for legal advice on this site makes total sense to me. There are tons of very educated people with all sorts of employment backgrounds. Would not surprise me if we had a few lawyers here that could help.

Being one of those noobs, but also being a long-standing member of other forums devoted to other topics, I do indeed understand the diversity likely to be represented here. My take is that on-line forums in general are not a good place to get advice on matters like this because all you're getting is opinion based on the quality of the initial post and the (somewhat) unknown mindset and background of the responding posters.

It's much more productive to call a local lawyer, all of whom will typically do free consultation over the phone to at least determine if a follow-up is warranted, and let the lawyer tease out the facts as they relate to local laws, culture, etc.

I'm not suggesting that members shouldn't raise these topics at all; it's actually a good thing to have a place to vent where you'll get a mostly sympathetic ear. In this case, the poster made clear that he is planning to call his own lawyer and he should follow through on that. So vent away, but recognize that the forum is no substitute for qualified legal advice from the local area.

Hondaph00l · 12-18-06, 07:12

Wow, I want to see how this turns out with the lawyer involved. Im with Danase on this one though, that was a bad move on the managers part. I guess she will be getting a wake up call on jumping the gun on people.

Alex