Could i be sued for this?

C V

Be sure you have your facts straight and don't make accusations or name any names unless you have irrefutable proof.

But you absolutely have a right to speak out.

I would read up on journalistic practices first - you're essentially putting yourself in the role of a journalist without the backing of a publication and legal staff - so err on the side of caution.

Good luck!

ashhh_marieeex0

Freedom of speech.

K W

As long as these are FACTS and you can back everything up, it is legal.

Stephen T

Yes, we have freedom of speech. But, they will threaten you with legal action, so be careful if you can't afford an attorney. Look at www.ripoffreport.com and on the bottom it says thinking about suing them and it has some good references that can be used to protect yourself.

revshirls

You can do this as long as you have real factual evidence to support your claim and can prove this if charges were brought against you by the factories concerned. This is why newspapers need to do a lot of research but still get sued from time to time because their facts are wrong or they cannot prove their case.
You have to be accountable for what you write in your blog. It's one thing to write about factories in the community in a general sense (even then you have to a least give good reasoning and some facts for the criticism if called to do so). It's quite another thing to actually "name and shame" companies publically. You really need hard facts and experts that can back up your claims.

Adam L

Yes they can sue you if they can prove that you are causing them to lose business because of your actions.

Insert witty name here

If the information is true, you can say what you want.

Windy

Go FOR it!

Here is a site that's really good for bloggers, it's the legal side of blogging. As long as everything is in your opinion, you're fine. You can also try going on the Rip off Report site to voice your opinions! Good luck!

rlbjr22

Whether you can be or not, I bet the first thing they do is treat you like some insignificant little pest that's not worth their time and energy, but, be careful. They have more money than you, and they can afford better lawyers and more court time than you, and if you slip even so much as one iota, you can plan on being sued, and losing. God Bless you.

beckconnie63

As long as you can prove it.

Ally

There's always freedom of speech, however there are other reasons that they could sue. For instance, they could claim that you are harming their business by telling people that they are not eco-friendly. I know someone who is now facing a lawsuit because she wrote a blog about how a local contractor created an eyesore--the reason she is being sued is that it "hurt business." Not a technical term, but you get the idea.
Also, do you have cold, hard facts that have been confirmed? If not, it may be a good idea to steer clear of exposing them. You could use generalizations such as "factories in the area are [what they are doing that negatively affects the environment]"
Good Luck, and be careful! :)

ahjapoponger

they can sue you for anything these days.

example 1 :
the portland trailblazers have threatend to sue any team that signs one that they have released, because if he plays in 2 more games this year the blazers will have to pay him $18million.

Nagabhata

Assuming that you live in the United States,

no you cannot be successfully sued for that UNLESS you 1. lie or 2. have disregard for the truth.

P.S.

In Britain it's different. If you damage their business by telling the truth, they can win damages from you.

legalbgl

you can report on anything you choose. But if you report on something and you are wrong, you can be sued. If you are not wrong, truth is a defense to defamation.

crimson.horizon

As long as these are verifiable facts, then you can't be sued.

Bane M

The main thing is to sure of your facts.If what you are saying is factually accurate they can't get you for slander or libel. Don't be surprised if they try to make things hard for you though... big companies aren't afraid of playing dirty!

gnightgracie72

These companies have a PR department - I think you should call and find out what they tell the public about their environmental record. I don't think you can be sued if you have support for what you state.

J R

i don't see why you would be sued. you're just stating facts, unless you're lying about it.

sean m

Well technically anybody can sue you for anything it just matters weather they will win or not. But I say go for it I think that someone needs to inform the public about what these companies are doing to the environment.

Mads

It' a free country
As long as you write the truth you're OK. No manipulation

Lawenforcer

No, as long as what you say is true, and if you can not prove it then be prepared to write a check....with a bunch of zeros.

Aussie Pride!

yeah that fine...they're not going to waste their time suing a 'no body' anyway

Gem

Are you allowed? Probably yes.

Can you be sued? In America, you betcha.

So, your area apparently has soooooo many jobs that destroying a few thousand more won't hurt you?

Trust me, with all the regulations, EPA, etc, etc, these companies are not contributing to global warming.

It is China, India and other third world countries that have took the majority of our manufacturers jobs that contribute.

And after we are broke and begging in the street, they will be LAUGHING as eat, work and live the lives we used to.

BTW, the earth is COOLING and has been for 8 years. Look it up, it is true. Arctic ice is thicker than anytime since the 70s.

V a m p i r e L o v e â„¢

i dont think so but i hope not
it would be great to let people know what is going on .

Erica G

Yes. Freedom of speech. As long as you are not violating any of their internal privacy policies, which you wouldn't as long as you are getting public information then you're good to go!

Cody S

Yes, unless you break in to their facility to gain information, but otherwise its freedom of speech.

Lost Cause

I think that is freedom of speech?

HMD.!

Yeah, just don't produce libel.

Neon Riot

You should do it,
that's so great!

npolynomial

The only thing I can think of that might go wrong is they could send over some thugs and either put a lot of pressure on you or blackmail you... something similar happened to me before

Lydia

Hmmm. I wonder if your expose would be a kind of defamation by proxy?

Are you an employee or ex-employee of any of these factories? If so, it's possible that they may take legal action against you. But also consider this:

How likely is it that these factories will get any attention (and acted upon) just through your expose? If it doesn't make a huge spark, I wouldn't worry about it.

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