Defend Your Reputation
Video Transcript: Using cease and desist letters to stop defamation in Oklahoma. I’m Oklahoma lawyer James Wirth, I’m doing a series of videos regarding cease and desist letters. And in this case we’re talking about how it may apply to slander, libel, essentially defamation of character. That can be a good opportunity to try to stop that activity without having to actually file a lawsuit with the court.
The benefit of a cease and desist letter is that it is faster and it is cheaper, and we’re talking about defamation, particularly things being posted online. Slander, the faster you can get that taken down and removed the better before it spreads and causes too much damage. Filing a civil lawsuit can be time consuming. It can be expensive.
So usually if we’re talking about defamation or slander we want to act more quickly, so we may recommend a cease and desist letter, and that’s just a formal letter drafted up usually by a law firm. Put it on the law firm letterhead, make it serious, serve it by certified mail so they know it’s serious, or pay a little extra, serve it by a process server, it sends it even more powerful message. And that letter is going to advise them what they’re doing, why it violates the law, and what the potential consequences are if they don’t stop, cease, desist doing that.
And then at that point they’re on notice and if they fail to take down those materials that are defamatory then you can show when you file a subsequent lawsuit that not only did they defame you, but they were on notice of it, they failed to stop doing so, and that any damages caused by that, that you should be compensated for that.
So cease and desist letter can be a good opportunity to try to stop slander and liable before it causes too much damage, and it can also help by setting the groundwork for future litigation should it be necessary if they refuse to comply.
But if you’re dealing with this scenario where somebody is talking bad about you online, stating false statements, and that present you in a bad light, you’re going to want to talk to an attorney about that privately and confidentially to get advice specific to your scenario. To get that scheduled with a Tulsa criminal defense attorney at my office you can go online to makelaweasy.com.
