Thread: .243 Silencer??
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Old May 7, 2009, 06:20 PM   #16
Crosshair
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Join Date: December 16, 2004
Location: Grand Forks, ND
Posts: 5,333
Quote:
AAC sued a poster over at AR15.com for disparaging their suppressors, so while you might have to work at getting banned, it looks like they are quite willing to drop lawyers on people. Considering how rare that happens despite some of the outrageous slander on the Internet, I think it says a lot about AAC.
I read up on both sides of the case That lawsuit was for libel against AAC. That poster made statements about AAC and their business/government contracts and said they were factual. They had been doing so repeatedly over a long period of time. I would have sued them too. People have been successfully sued for libel for much lesser statements. If you keep poking a bull in the butt eventually it is going to turn around and stomp you into the ground.

It is one thing to say your opinion about a product. It is another things to repeat a rumor about a product. It is another to say things and repeatedly say that they are 100% factual. This lawsuit is essentially telling that poster to "put up or shut up." AAC says the statement that person made are false, if they are, then that person is in world a world of hurt. "Statements made in a good faith and reasonable belief that they were true", are generally protected, reading through everything one sees that the poster probably won't be protected.

Either way, the poster brought it up upon themselves for making statements, claiming they were fact, and not backing them up.

"The can sounded like it was made of plumbing parts when I shot it." is not libel.
"I think the can is made out of plumbing parts." is not libel.
"I have a source that tells me that their cans are made of plumbing parts." is libel, as you are asserting that your statement is factual and not just an opinion. Doing this once, you would probably be able to get away with it by claiming that statement was "made in a good faith and reasonable belief that they were true". Doing it multiple times over a long period of time, continually asserting that it is factual, and you are going to get sued.

In cases like this, the burden of proof generally lies on the plaintiff to prove injury.
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