I am not in favour of seeing anyone being bullied, espacially
young adults.
1. You have the right to seek redress for what happened to you,
espacially if you can back up your claims.
2. Posting photos and information relating to your problems are
only evidences to substantiate the claims you are making in public
view.
3. The other person too have a right to defend himself, and if
he wants, he can seek legal counsel for advice or proceed to sue
you in a court of law. This right does not AUTOMATICALLY means he
will win in a case.
4. Furthermore, defamation cases are long drawn and costly, up
to thousands of dollars. Therefore, if you put up photos and
information and presume you are right, then challenge him in face
off in court, for he is in the wrong, he may even have to pay for
every cent of your legal cost.
5. NEVER be afraid of a lawyer letter. That piece of paper is
meant only to frighten you, in the hope that you will be stupid
enough to back off, apologise, because most people are not aware of
their rights and want no trouble, espacially if what they seek is
small compared to the court action that may loom.
At most, they can only tell you to remove the post as a first
stage. It would have already serve its purpose anyway, so taking it
off is no shame, and continue to ignore other threats, by engaging
in a lawyer to brief you on your rights and your options next.
There are free legal counsel you can turn to, offered by
community serving lawyers.
6. Should the other party proceeds with legal action, have no
fear, stand your ground as long as you think you are right, and
battle it out. The other party will have more to lose. No one
goes to jail in civil suits or have anything attached to their
personal records. You may even put fear back into the other party
to back out and reach for a private settlement with you.
7. At this current stage, you SHOULD NOT settle for private
settlement and be bullied or even blackmailed for more inducement
for the other party to stop legal action. Keep track of all
correspondences he sends to you, avoid all meetings and engage a
lawyer to represent you. Tell him to talk to your lawyer.
But if you are a student, and don't want anymore trouble, and
had removed the pics and info, then there is nothing more to fear.
You had done your job to blacklist him and made others beware of
him. Walk away. Chances are you are unlikely to get the property
you seek from him anymore. A lesson learnt in excercising
trade.
If he wants trouble, either you report to the police or send him
a legal letter instead. Nothing to fear, buds, so long as you know
your rights. Next time, be smarter and leave no trace. Conpersons
must not be tolerated or be allowed to misuse justice to serve
their despicable ends by frightening others.