Can I sue?

[KingCon]

Ok, I know I can sue, the question is" Do I have a case?

Scenerio--I am a mailman. A woman had her box blocked and I couldnt get to it, so I drove on by, she stopped me 2 houses later and I explained to her why I didnt deliver her mail etc. She gets pissed and wants my name, I tell her " I dont give out my name, but I will give her my supervisors name/number". Then out of the blue she says' Im going to call the postmaster, because it smells like you ahve been drinking.

Well, she calls the postmaster, and my supervisor and tells them, that I was drunk, she also says she is calling the local paper. The supervisor has to come out on my route and investigate me and my vehicle looking for alcohol. needless to say, nothing was found. Anyway, everyone at work now knows about these false allegations

Do I have any legal recourse against the lady who amde the false statements?

[BCPVP]

Sounds like slander to me...

[chisness]

i don't know if you can sue or not, but as long as the people at work know the allegations are false i don't think you lose any respect at all. i have a feeling that you won't be able to sue, but i agree this is very annoying.

[boedeker]

is her house big? do you see why?

[imported_The Vibesman]

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A woman had her box blocked and I couldnt get to it,

[/ QUOTE ]

Anyone? Anyone?


It does sound like slander, but I'm not a lawyer. Perhaps there is some civil action you could take for the mental anguish, thinking your job is in danger, loss of reputation, blah blah.

[ QUOTE ]
is her house big? do you see why?

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Your only claim is defamation. Attacks against one's profession is slander per se meaning that damages are presumed, however, I don't think you would get big $$ in a lawsuit, thus the above quote is off.

What do you hope to achieve by suing? Teaching the lady a lesson? You will get little to zero money with the headache of a lawsuit, which would include your deposition inquiring into your drinking habits for the past 5 years. Overally, not worth your time if nothing happened to you at work.

Move on with life, put a turd in her mailbox.

[ripdog]

Were you harmed? I don't think so, but maybe you now suffer post-traumatic stress fom the incident. Let it go and know deep in your heart that people generally suck.

[Sifmole]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I know I can sue, the question is" Do I have a case?

Scenerio--I am a mailman. A woman had her box blocked and I couldnt get to it, so I drove on by, she stopped me 2 houses later and I explained to her why I didnt deliver her mail etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

So why didn't you just hand her the mail instead of some long winded explanation?

Oh and... GET THE HECK OUT OF THE JEEP AND PUT THE MAIL IN THE BOX YOU LAZY GOVT BUM!

[KingCon]

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is her house big? do you see why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Your only claim is defamation. Attacks against one's profession is slander per se meaning that damages are presumed, however, I don't think you would get big $$ in a lawsuit, thus the above quote is off.

What do you hope to achieve by suing? Teaching the lady a lesson? You will get little to zero money with the headache of a lawsuit, which would include your deposition inquiring into your drinking habits for the past 5 years. Overally, not worth your time if nothing happened to you at work.

Move on with life, put a turd in her mailbox.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was actually thinking of small claims, I wasnt thinking of getting rich, just wanted her to sweat a little

[JustToast]

You can probably sue your boss/usps for letting this false info out. The woman not so much provided she complained just to your supervisor and therefore did not cause you harm since it was false and you had no direct loss.

Just my guess. Then again, i'm Canadian and we don't sue each other as often as you yanks do.

[boedeker]

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I don't think

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What type of wannabe lawyer are you?

PS: are you hiring?

[KingCon]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Ok, I know I can sue, the question is" Do I have a case?

Scenerio--I am a mailman. A woman had her box blocked and I couldnt get to it, so I drove on by, she stopped me 2 houses later and I explained to her why I didnt deliver her mail etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

So why didn't you just hand her the mail instead of some long winded explanation?

Oh and... GET THE HECK OUT OF THE JEEP AND PUT THE MAIL IN THE BOX YOU LAZY GOVT BUM!

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually this happened after I handed her the mail. And it is a safety hazard to get out for blocked boxes.

By the way, her driveway was empty while she was blocking her box

[SackUp]

Lawsuits suck especially if there really was not any damage. I would definitely want an apology if I was you, but I don't know if it is really the cost of litigation. It definitely would not for me, but that is something you need to weigh.

Also, the big thing for your case is who has the burden of proof in a slander case. Do you have to prove you were not drunk or does she have to prove that you were. I think the onus is on her and thus would probably be difficult to prove, especially if you were sober and no alcohol was around. But that is something you will want to look up, as I'm not sure.

If you do go, then small claims would be the way to go. I would seek a public apology and a retraction from anything put in the paper. I would hope the paper would not just put in this story from one lady though.

[-Skeme-]

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Sounds like slander to me...

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct, and I'm pretty sure if it's printed in the paper it's libel as well.

[ QUOTE ]
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is her house big? do you see why?

[/ QUOTE ]

Your only claim is defamation. Attacks against one's profession is slander per se meaning that damages are presumed, however, I don't think you would get big $$ in a lawsuit, thus the above quote is off.

What do you hope to achieve by suing? Teaching the lady a lesson? You will get little to zero money with the headache of a lawsuit, which would include your deposition inquiring into your drinking habits for the past 5 years. Overally, not worth your time if nothing happened to you at work.

Move on with life, put a turd in her mailbox.

[/ QUOTE ]

I was actually thinking of small claims, I wasnt thinking of getting rich, just wanted her to sweat a little

[/ QUOTE ]

File it. If she gets a lawyer and spends the $$ you are going to have a very uncomfortable deposition that will detail your work habits, your drinking, and any other issue her attorney can find. If you are clean and don't mind a 4 hour inquisition, or know for sure she will not hire a lawyer, go for it.

If you can prove she did it maliciously, you can get more $$, plus you (or your attorney) do get to take her deposition.

Bottom line, lawsuits = headaches. Lady will never learn anything.

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Sounds like slander to me...

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct, and I'm pretty sure if it's printed in the paper it's libel as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

If its printed in the paper you could sue the paper itself, which is a better lawsuit.

[theghost]

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I would seek a public apology and a retraction from anything put in the paper.

[/ QUOTE ]

I like this for putting the bitch in line.

[-Skeme-]

The paper can be held responsible for printing the woman's accusation even if it's not stated as fact? Is it the paper's responsibility to verify her claims before printing anything remotely close to "the mail man was drunk"?

[MrMoo]

I am not a lawyer but I believe you'll have to prove that she was making a false accusation. In other words, all she has to say is that she believed you were drunk. Whether you were or not doesn't matter. If she believed it she can make the complaint. Essentially, I don't think it's possible for you to sue her and win because you can't possibly prove that she didn't honestly think you were drunk.

On a side note, I've been wondering if I could bribe my mailman to not put junk mail in my mailbox. Is this possible?

[KingCon]

[ QUOTE ]
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Sounds like slander to me...

[/ QUOTE ]

Correct, and I'm pretty sure if it's printed in the paper it's libel as well.

[/ QUOTE ]

If its printed in the paper you could sue the paper itself, which is a better lawsuit.

[/ QUOTE ]

I really dont think the paper will print anything by her, she jsut told the postmaster that she was going to call the paper and tell them about the drunk mailman.

And I have to deliver this womans mail once a week

Paper's are supposed to verify all facts with at least two independent sources, so if they just printed "the mailman was drunk" based only on her statement, then they screwed up. Especially if they said that he was drunk, and not that she said he was drunk, etc etc.

[cokehead]

[ QUOTE ]
The paper can be held responsible for printing the woman's accusation even if it's not stated as fact? Is it the paper's responsibility to verify her claims before printing anything remotely close to "the mail man was drunk"?

[/ QUOTE ]

well you could sue for this, but you would win approximately zero percent of the time.

[KingCon]

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I am not a lawyer but I believe you'll have to prove that she was making a false accusation. In other words, all she has to say is that she believed you were drunk. Whether you were or not doesn't matter. If she believed it she can make the complaint. Essentially, I don't think it's possible for you to sue her and win because you can't possibly prove that she didn't honestly think you were drunk.

On a side note, I've been wondering if I could bribe my mailman to not put junk mail in my mailbox. Is this possible?

[/ QUOTE ]


If she honestly thought I was drunk, wouldnt she call the police? She did this because she had to walk to the enxt house to get her mail from me

And about the junk mail, there is a number to call to get rid of it, but sicne junk mail is paper gold to the USPS, we never give it out /images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Hamish McBagpipe]

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I would seek a public apology and a retraction from anything put in the paper.

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Haha, I get asked to get this a lot. Like, a guy got fired and I get his job back with back pay and he wants a public apology from whomever fired him. It never happens; I don't even ask. Has anyone seen a public apology? I don't think I have. What are you asking for, the pillory? I think that's what civil court is for and I don't think they make the guilty party make a public apology either, that's what the damages are for. But then, you've got some [censored] up States laws with judges saying, "You littered for the third time this year, I sentence you to come paint my house while your neighbours watch." If you win damages AND humiliate me I firebomb your house.

By the way, her driveway was empty while she was blocking her box

[/ QUOTE ]
How was she blocking it

[KingCon]

[ QUOTE ]
By the way, her driveway was empty while she was blocking her box

[/ QUOTE ]
How was she blocking it

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Uhhh, she was parked in front of her mailbox, if she had parked in her empty driveway, we wouldnt have this problem.

Usually the mailbox isnt in the driveway.

[chesspain]

I'm still trying to figure out why you wouldn't give out your name. I'ld be pretty pissed if my mail carrier not only skipped over my box but refused to give even his or his first name. I didn't think that mail carriers who were sober needed to deliver the mail under the cloak of anonymity.

P.S. If the woman thought that you had been drinking, she had every right to contact the postmaster. If you have a problem with the fact that all of your coworkers allegedly know about this complaint, you should take it up with the postmaster.

[handsome]

Get a new job.