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I reported a company for fraudulent activity to the BBB and posted a warning on Facebook. The company retained a law firm. This law firm sent me a certified letter threatening legal action unless I cease and desist in reporting the fraudulent activity of this company. I did not cease or desist in reporting and no legal action has ensued. Must they follow through on their threat of legal action or do nothing and admit that they were just trying to scare me so that I would shut up? In other words if they make a threat must they follow through?
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Well, no they don’t necessarily have to follow through with taking legal action. However, just because they haven’t done so yet doesn’t mean a process server won’t show up on your doorstep to serve you with a lawsuit. It is possible that they just hired the lawyer to send the letter and have decided after weighing the costs and strengths/weaknesses of their cause of action just not to pursue the matter. I will caution to be careful what you post. Obviously, I don’t know anything about the situation, but when using terms like “fraud” and “fraudulent,” you can get yourself in a legal gray area. Fact is an absolute defense to a defamation action. However, fraud is a legally technical term and, therefore, using it could and I stress could give some clout to a lawsuit. All that said – to answer your question directly – no, they don’t have to follow through on their cease and desist letter.
Answered on Mar 04th, 2014 at 2:01 PM