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Public service announcement:

I am facing an impending defamation suit. Some of you might know about it. Some of you might not. Unfortunately, I cannot say too much more so as not to complicate the case.

The interesting thing about this impending suit is that this is not personal. I don’t even know the guy.

Even if you support me, please refrain from posting any public comments about this case, when/if you hear about the case. If you post anything at all, you might also get sued. Whether you said anything substantive, matters not. You still risk getting sued.

The point is that the suit will be undertaken by litigants in person, so if you respond to the suit, the amount of costs you will be able to claim even if you win the suit will be limited by schedule (probably $12K?).

However, it might easily cost $50-70K to engage a lawyer to handle the case. I am not sure I would encourage lay people to “self service,” even though there’s ChatGPT today.

Basically my situation is that I cannot lose this case, because the case is more or less lost even before I start. What I mean is that even if I win the case (and with high likelihood I will), I still stand to lose money and waste time no matter what. Real bummer.

If you are caught in this situation and you approach a lawyer, you will likely get the following advice “the cheapest to make this go away is just mediation offer him few thousand, and just apologise; much cheaper than fight it.” This is actually the correct professional opinion.

Even though it is completely irrational, I cannot be paying up. I am in the midst of appointing a lawyer to handle this. It will seem like I am going to cut my nose to spite my face, but as a matter of principle, I cannot be settling just to save money.

I don’t think the person(s) suing really expects to make money out from me. However, I do have a significant number of online supporters and followers. I suspect I am merely the marketing and “lead generation” strategy. In this light, I urge my friends and supporters not to post any comments about the case to avoid becoming a “lead.”

To those who have reached out and offered support, I really appreciate those kind thoughts. While I am not rich, this suit will not cause us significant financial hardship. In the worst case, next year no vacation. 🥲

I am not the only one being sued. Others have written to me for advice. Minlaw is clearly aware of the problem and looking into it. I hope that this nonsense gets stopped in time before we get another suicide.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BPkofHSDA/

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