| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | add to 'client who makes stories'- hopeless situation Thread poster: Katarina Andersson
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I don't know about the Italian law either, but here's a little about English/Welsh law with regard to defamation.
Obviously you have to be very careful when making any kind of written statement addressed to the general public about an identifiable person. However we only have 2 elements here (published statement, identifiable person). The third element is that the words actually have to be defamatory.
In English defamation claims, which notoriously are decided by judge ... See more I don't know about the Italian law either, but here's a little about English/Welsh law with regard to defamation.
Obviously you have to be very careful when making any kind of written statement addressed to the general public about an identifiable person. However we only have 2 elements here (published statement, identifiable person). The third element is that the words actually have to be defamatory.
In English defamation claims, which notoriously are decided by judge and jury (unusual for civil law claims in England/Wales), the judge decides whether a statement could be defamatory and the jury whether it actually (in the eyes of a reasonable person) is defamatory in all the circumstances. The burden of proof lies with the defendant to show that a statement, if put to the jury, is not defamatory (or rather that a reasonable person would not consider the words to be defamatory).
English/Welsh law of defamation is, I think, the strictest in the world, partly because of this reversal of the burden of proof. I don't know what the situation is in Italy.
However a defence in a case of defamation is that the statement is true (to be proven on the balance of probabilities – defence of justification).
Another one is fair comment. To rely on this the matter must be of public interest, an expression of opinion and not an assertion of fact and, finally, fair.
Public interest has been defined as follows (Denning): "…. such as to affect people at large so that they might be legitimately interested in or concerned at, what is going on; or what may happen to them or to others".
It is for the judge to decide what is "in the public interest", but affairs of business, the conduct of public figures are two matters that are likely to be considered in the public interest.
When judging whether a comment is fair, one of the criteria likely to be used is: "would any fair man (now changed to honest), however prejudiced he might be, or however exaggerated or obstinate his views, have written this criticism?" Put another way, the comment must not be malicious or imply that the defendant is corrupt, dishonest, evil etc.
Going on the above, it is difficult to see how a statement to the effect that X did not pay bill dated xx.xx.xx. by xx.xx.xx and has received two reminders (with interest calculated of course...........!) dated xx.xx.xx and xx.xx.xx could be considered defamatory, provided all evidence is available to back up the facts.
As the onus of proof is on the defendant (in English law) evidence is obviously very important.
"I would not work for them again" does not seem to be a malicious statement to me.
Just a few notes. I am not an expert on defamation law, but have merely studied the broad aspects of it. As I said, I know nothing about the Italian laws on this. The area does not fall under EC law and this is also a very complex (but nevertheless (to an academic) fascinating) area of the law.
However, as I said English / Welsh law of defamation is, going on what I know, the strictest in the world. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Roomy Naqvy 
India
Local time: 06:53
English to Hindi
+ ...
| collecting money | Apr 8, 2006 |
1. Get them to court.
2. I know you contacted a lawyer friend and you can send a notice. But you can also tell the agency that you will contact end clients stating that they do not have the right to use the translations done by you for which you havent been paid [though the end client might have paid the agency]. You can tell your agency that if you contact the end clients this way, it is possible that the end clients might sue the agency and in which case, the responsibility would ... See more 1. Get them to court.
2. I know you contacted a lawyer friend and you can send a notice. But you can also tell the agency that you will contact end clients stating that they do not have the right to use the translations done by you for which you havent been paid [though the end client might have paid the agency]. You can tell your agency that if you contact the end clients this way, it is possible that the end clients might sue the agency and in which case, the responsibility would entirely be theirs.
3. Contact a collections agency.
I wrote to you from your profile but the message would not go... is your profile email valid?
Roomy ▲ Collapse
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as I still hope they will pay without too much fuss, I will see what happens when my lawyer friend talks to them. To take them to court for 700 euros seems a bit too much, then the one who would loose on it would be me probably and for 700 euros it's not worth that at all.
What I might do would in the end to contact a collection agency, hoping thus to get the money that way.
Thanks,
Katarina.
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Anne Gillard-Groddeck wrote:
However a defence in a case of defamation is that the statement is true (to be proven on the balance of probabilities – defence of justification).
In Italy the fact that the statement is true is not, in most cases, a valid defence. There was a discussion about this in the Italian forum just a few weeks ago - in similar circumstances.
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| Sound familiar | Apr 10, 2006 |
Hi Katarina,
Would you be willing to send me the name of the agency through my profile? I went through a similar situation last year with an Italian agency- it all sounds quite familiar...
Jennifer
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