if someone is libeling and slandering me thru email what can be done to stop them?

Question

a memebr of my family is angry with me and so in retaliation has sent emails to other people in my family saying nasty things and outright lies and libelous and slandering lies and fictions about me I cannot afford a lawyer..what would be my recourse to stop something like this? don't say kick their a s s or have them killed I am asking seriously is there some sort of way to get them suspended off the internet or some legal thing to do?remember I cannot afford an attorney or even small claims court, this person also lives many states away from me and obviously the person is not well.

No I have DELETED their emails to ME but they are emailing OTHER famiy members with these lies and nasty stories ..will you people PLEASE read the whole thing?

thats was fo Republica antichrist who obviously either cannot read, or doesn't have a concetration LONG ENOUGH to finish the whole thing or has NO COMPRHENSION while reading

althpugh I am sure you meant well Repub

is my question unclear. ITS NOT ME they are sending the nasty libelous emails to its to other members of my family and they are telling those OTHER members nasty foul mouthed lies, its not about me deleting ANYTHING they re NOT SENDING THEM TO ME understand?

i DO have an income ..LOL now people are reading stuff thats TOTALLY NOT THERE (am I nuts?) i just cannot afford to put my money into a lawyer

thats VERY educational Snooky I will save that for sure.... t y

Answer 1

Unless you can document serious financial damages, you have no case for court. Ignore them and eventually they will stop.

Answer 2

Your ONLY legal recourse is to sue.
And since it is a family member I don't predict that lawsuit will be an easy one.

Since you cannot afford a lawyer (which makes you part of a huge group) then you either have to find a lawyer who will handle your case for free (most of them are involved in other more important cases) or you can sue in small claims court or you can handle it yourself.

In a court of law you will have to prove that this specific family member, and not someone else, insulted you. You need a copy of that proof (printouts), and you need to prove that those insults damaged you. The last is going to be the hardest to do.

The only other alternative, and probably the best course of action, is to go to a family elder and state your case before them. That elder must talk with the other family member and try to reach a settlement. Usually, this is best handled in person. You need to find a family elder that is respected by the rest of the family and one that has an equal relationship. Then they must be willing and able to make a decision that will be binding. f your insulter refuses to follow the decision then this solution won't be valid. If you can't find a family elder to handle the problem then maybe you can use your parents to come to a compromise. The worst thing to do is to keep fighting and trading insults with each other.

Finally, the only other solution would be to settle the problem yourself. Swallow your pride and say you are sorry. You could go to each family member and block the insulter's email address, but that wouldn't stop phone calls or letters, and in the end it will make you the "bad guy." You need to settle this yourself.

In the final analysis it doesn't matter who was wrong or who was right, it only matters on who is willing to settle.

Answer 3

Here is a Web site you can visit: http://commfaculty.fullerton.edu/afellow/MassMediaLaw/LibelandSlander.html

It will tell you the difference between libal and slander. Libel is written, slander is the spoken word.

You can try to get a victim advocate from the Prosecutor's office in your county, city or town, or you can call legal aid for people who cannot afford an attorney. Since you do not have an income, their services will be free. If you can get proof they wrote these things, like having copies of the emails, then you can take that with you when you go.

Hope this helps.

Answer 4

Contact your family members, tell them you're sorry they're being put in the middle of this, ask them to please ignore the person and wait for it to blow over. The more attention they give this person the longer this will go on.

If you have done something that caused the person to be mad that you wish you had not done, come up with some way to set it right.

If you did something you are not sorry for, accept that you will have to deal with their reaction to it. In that case it's a matter of waiting it out.

Even if you could take him or her to court it could make things worse.

Because this is a family member, do try to do what can be done to work things out, unless he or she is abusive or causing someone harm.

I think your best bet is to just stop responding to this person, and ask your family to not talk about the situation with that person.

Sorry you're going through this difficult experience.

Answer 5

Very little. The laws for emails & blogs are slow to catch up with the abuse of them. Send email to family explaining in short fashion that the email is not true & express your concern for the person. Do not try to fight lies with harsh statements. It never works as people wonder why you are being so harsh. Good luck & sorry you are going through this problem. Block mean emails through spam.

Answer 6

If you cannot afford court, then there is nothing you can do. You might be able to print out the emails and file a police complaint, but they are going to laugh at you once you walk out of the station. The only way to do it is to take them to court. You can file a case for about $40, so if it means that much to you, then live on PB&J for a couple weeks and raise the $40.

Answer 7

There isn't much you can do. To prove libel, you have to prove that this person said something you can prove untrue, and that the words have created undue financial hardship for you. The best course of action to take is to contact the company that provides them with their internet access and/or the company that provides their e-mail address, make them aware of the situation, and ask if there's anything that can be done to stop it.

Answer 8

There isn't much you can do about that, other than change your email address, put some money into getting a new modem or something like that and tell your family that person has a problem with you, and maybe you can sort things out.
No harm in trying to work it out, You must've done something, for him to tell your family though.
What is his/her story to all this?
Sounds abit suspect to me.

Answer 9

unless it has caused a financial effect on you, you can't sue for anything.

you can get a court order for that member to cease and desist however.

Answer 10

This has already been posted. There is little you can do. Change your address.