A Wisconsin Realtor gets 18 months (probation) for criminal defamation…
… after writing on ActiveRain that another Realtor was linked to the Russian mob.
*note: I added the word “probation” into the title to be more clear!
Tagged: law RSS
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Dustin
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Joseph Bridges
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Russell Shaw
It looks like his sentence was 18 months PROBATION. Not jail time. He only goes to jail if he violates his probation.
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Russell Shaw
Prior to the settlement with NAR and the DOJ I once wrote an entire lengthy post about the DOJ based on me having completely misunderstood MY main point. I only realized what I had not understood once it had been posted. It was then I could start the rewrite process.
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Ricardo Bueno
You know, this might sound a little naive but there’s this quote that I like and try to live by:
“I will speak ill of no one. And I will speak all the good of everyone I know.”
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Toga
I’m speechless….
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Monika
He is probably very lucky…I wonder if the other party will sue for damages? In either case how stupid can people be????
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Mindy Allen
I can only say “woohoo”…finally someone made to adhere to the code of ethics…by a court…of course not by the N.A.R. You don’t talk about other real estate agents, it’s unprofessional. I don’t go to work to watch a soap operas do you? Also placing it in such a public location is obscene. The thing I don’t get, and have been struggling with in this business is that it seems to attract a lot of people with skewed moral compasses…when you mess with another agents reputation it inhibits their ability to provide for themselves, to feed their families and it infuriates me every time I see it or hear it.
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Paul Dunn
Just like email, never EVER write anything when you are ticked off at someone! Unless of course, you are good at hitting that delete button…LOL
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Marlow
What a weird situation. I Googled the victim and found this still online on a different website: http://www.ripoffreport.com/reports/0/329/RipOff0329839.htm
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Dustin
Wow, Marlow… I love your ability to find the juicy stuff!
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Property Investment
Be careful there is no fall out from Marlows link. I enjoyed reading it of course, we all like the juicey gossip, but even if you take slurs with a pinch of salt, its always there in the back of your mind. Best to always smile and nod.
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It is a shame to see such comments made by any Realtor. “Draft” mode is always a good feature to allow time to cool off. At one point or another we all get angry, but a professional knows when to show it and when not to.
George
Dustin
ActiveRain lawyer: “There are no current settlement negotiations going on. Basically, we’re…
… getting the matter ready for trial“ (that is expected to start in December).
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Bob Stewart
No one tells me anything around here. I always have to read it on your blog
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Spencer
Dustin,
Any predictions? Do you want to go out on a limb and say whether you think MOVE is in the wrong or not? -
Dustin
Definitely no predictions on my part!
Dustin
Miami Real Estate Agent is being sued for $25M for…
…comments he made on his blog about a developer!Wow!The short version: The blogger said that a development was sure to have lots of problems along the lines of what happened when the developer went bankrupt in the ’80s. Problem is, the developer never went bankrupt (although he admits financial problems).Interestingly, the law professor who is interviewed doesn’t think the developer has much of a case against the real estate agent, but even if the case is dropped, damage has already been done to the agent, Lucas Lechuga, considering his broker let him go and he’s now got to pay legal fees!
”We just don’t condone making statements, especially negative statements, about anyone, so we have terminated our relationship with our associate,” said EWM President Ron Shuffield.
Interestingly, another Ron Shuffield goes on to say:
“I viewed these statements to be more negative in tone than just providing information,” Shuffield said, adding the firm wouldn’t have hired Lechuga had it known about the blog…”We want to encourage associates to be a positive source of information,” Shuffield said.
Interestingly, I wonder if this will put the scare on other Miami bloggers and in particular, other Esslinger Wooten Maxwell Realtors like Kevin Tomlinson of the South Beach Real Estate blog.However, in therms of the story I’m a bit conflicted. While I hate to see a blogger get kicked around for comments he (apparently) thought were true, there’s definitely a lesson to be learned about the need to be smart in your blogging.By the way, the blog post in question has been edited to take away the incorrect facts, but can still be found here: Closing to Begin at the Opera Tower Very Soon.UPDATE: There’s now a video!
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Todd Carpenter
I’m not conflicted that he was fired. Maybe it’s just me. But when I see a product that I wouldn’t recommend to me readers, most of the time, I just don’t mention it.
As someone who has spent much of my life publicly representing other companies, it just seems like the right thing to do. If you only represent yourself, blast away. But if your comments reflect the company you work for, it only makes sense that you should be speaking inline with that company’s protocol.
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Kevin Tomlinson
Hey Dustin
In Miami there are a lot of frustrated people, especially developers, that are looking for someone to vent their rage on.
This story made the local CBS news tonight and, if you ask me, the story only highlighted the developer’s previous track record and showed shots of his black and empty tower.
It will be interesting to see, if it does go to court, what the judge decides — and how it affects bloggers and their opinions. Kinda scary.
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miamicondoinvestments
Dustin,
It was great hearing you speak when I was at the Real Estate Connect conference in NYC. I wish we could have met.
The interesting thing about this case is that I did not have my license hung with EWM when I wrote that post. They are coming after EWM because their parent company is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. I have no ill feelings against EWM. I fully understand their position on the situation given that they are owned by a much larger entity.
The reason why I wrote the post is because I was receiving a lot of phone calls from contract holders of the development telling me that they had no intention on closing. In my opinion, a blog is a vehicle to share opinions, thoughts and concerns. I was sharing my concern with potential buyers that the condo development was too risky to buy in. About three weeks ago, a local newspaper disclosed a story about a class-action lawsuit against the developer filed by contract holders wanting to get out. This topic was an area of concern, and one that I felt that needed to be disclosed to my readers.
I had no malicious intent against the developer nor the condo development. I was merely sharing my opinion with the readers of my blog and the concerns of current contract holders.
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ARDELL
”We want to encourage associates to be a positive source of information,” Shuffield said.”
Is that WEB 1.5?
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Maureen Francis
I liked the quote I read from the developer where he said he gave properties back to the bank (but did not go bankrupt!) yet he only lost his own money, not other people’s. Does he think that the bank did not lose money on the properties he “gave back” (to a bank that never owned them in the first place…)
Like Todd, I am very careful about what I write about. Oh, it is tempting some times, but really not worth it.
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Dustin
Lucas (Miamiinvestments…),
I wish we had met at RE Connect b/c you obviously have a good story to tell!
Mike Kelly
A very simple truth here which every journalistic knows–you always get your facts straight before you publish. To make a statement which is false is libel. Just because he’s a “humble blogger” is a cop-out. This whole “social networking” thing is going to shakeout and start getting some form and function and one of those will be verification of a statement prior to publication. You make a statement as he did, it goes “viral” and, like any rumor, gets legs and gets noticed! I’m not chilled by this whatsoever. If I make a statement saying someone had gone bankrupt it better be verified and have some context to the point I’m making on the blog. I thought his statement defending his use of the word was very lame. Reminded me of our ex-President with his tortured definition of what “sex” is?
Dustin
Mike,
While I don’t blame you a bit for wanting to hold Lucas up to the same standards as journalists, I’m just not sure that’s appropriate. And while I agree that his comments were tortured, that just makes him a bad spokesperson, and doesn’t necessarily indicate that bloggers should be held to the same level of scrutiny.
Here’s a thought: What if in his original post he had said, “others have told me he went bankrupt in the past”, as oppose to “he went bankrupt”? It takes a little bit of the “punch” out of it, but would have been factually accurate… and reminds me more of current smear-style presidential campaign politics!
My thought is that he went wrong when he “erased” his error as oppose to sucked-it-up and acknowledged his error directly in the original post. Had he just acknowledged his error in his original post and explained why he made the mistake, I’d be much more supportive of his cause.
Bloggers are going to continue to say things that they believe to be true based on conversations that they had… As long as there is no malice, I think it would be bad for us as a society if each of these slip-ups turned into multi-million dollar lawsuits.
Jim Duncan
My thought is that he went wrong when he “erased” his error as oppose to sucked-it-up and acknowledged his error directly in the original post. Had he just acknowledged his error in his original post and explained why he made the mistake, I’d be much more supportive of his cause.
Amen.
Second – I’d argue that we all have an obligation to the truth. Journalist, Realtor, blogger, whatever.
Dustin
I’m fascinated by HouseValues investment…
and while I’ll refrain from having an opinion for fear of lawyers (yes… I am lawyer-phobia even if some say this condition doesn’t exist), I’m definitely reading what others are saying:
- Jon: ActiveRain secures $2.75 Million Series A minority investment
- Matt: The long hard road to financing
- Joel: ActiveRain Finds Funding
- Greg: Active Rain gets $2.75 million in funding — from HouseValues.com
- Brian Brady: Activerain.com and HouseValues.com- The Ultimate Irony
- Paul Kedrosky: Best/Worse Timed Investment Ever: ActiveRain
- Mashable: ActiveRain Pulls $2.75M: “LinkedIn” for Real Estate
- X-Broker:ActiveRain secures $2.75M in Financing From HouseValues
- John Cook: HouseValues invests in real estate community ActiveRain
With a little searching you can find even more stories around the web, but those are the ones with interesting articles and/or comments!
Also, it seems worth noting that my sources were right on this! (see comment #42).
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Spencer
“Refrain from having an opinion”!? Come on Dustin, that’s why we all read this blog — for your opinion!
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Brendan King
Dustin, when you refrain from having an opinion for fear of legal retribution it really makes me wonder what your opinion is.
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Dustin
Brendan: I wish my “opinion” was interesting (On the HV investment, I doubt I’d have much to add). I’m just being OVERLY cautious to ensure that I don’t say anything that is not public knowledge due to my lawyer-phobia.
Dustin
Looking to out-ban others…
…my new hometown of Calabasas just approved a smoking ban for apartments.
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Brian Brady
Dumb law. If the market wanted smoke-free apartments. a developer would have built them.
So, what do I do when I have friends over to dinner? Smoke a cigar at the pool? Ooops, kids there. Smoke on the balcony? Oops, offend my neighbor.
I’m all for the ban on beaches and the ban in public buildings but this is getting to be a bit much
Dustin
Dustin
Local Tax Assessor gets hammered…
…by real estate professionals in the comments of Danilo’s post where he describes how a Loudoun County official has been playing hard-ball in telling him to take down an assessment of the Assessor’s office.
Interestingly, over the past few years, I’ve had multiple people tell me I had to take things down of Rain City Guide and with the one exception of the listings search (it upset the NWMLS that our IDX home search was on a subdirectory of RCG because RCG was “not an agent’s site”, so I had to move it to http://annaluther.com), I can’t think of anything else I’ve taken down. One of the benefits of not being an “agent site” in the traditional sense is that I haven’t had to get caught up with all the baggage that can go with being a REALTOR.
With that said, I’m hope that Danilo’s broker backs him up. Otherwise he’ll likely be facing a similar decision as Shaun did last month.
(more interesting comments on Bloodhound)
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Danilo Bogdanovic
Dustin,
Thanks for the comment about my situation. I don’t think that I’ll be following in Shaun’s footsteps, but that’s for others to decide so who knows…
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agent21
Danilo is not alone in finding corruption and greed in the property appraisal process. Here’s a taste of another jack booted appraiser, Tylene Gamble, Chief Appraiser of Wharton County, Texas. She sued taxpayers after her own appeals board sided with the citizens. Read all about it at http://maximstench.com/
Tom Johnson
Nick
I’m not a REALTOR, but I wrote a couple of articles on my blog about how our local MLS needs to make some serious upgrades to their agent site. Without even trying, I was outranking the local MLS in searches for their domains within a couple of weeks. They figured out who I worked for and contacted my boss, completely bypassing me and forced a meeting with my boss, their president, their technology VP and myself and I was basically told they appreciate the feedback, just not publicly. But they’d be more than happy to use me as a free technical consultant. They remind me of the recording industry with their strong-arm tactics, it’s rather sad.
Jay Thompson
The comments of Danilo’s blog weren’t the only place the Assessor got hammered.
Just Google Todd Kaufman Assessor and see what comes up…
(And the broker most definitely backed him up!)
Anonymous
Dustin
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Nolo: Should I hire a real estate agent or a lawyer to buy a house?
He should have spent more time prospecting and he wouldn’t have gotten in trouble.