eBay Seller Sues Buyer for Defamation

[jeffweico]

I found this when searching for something else, and thought some of you might be interested.

eBay defamation suit centers on Web comments about seller - Friday, Jan. 8, 2010 | 12:02 p.m. - Las Vegas Sun

eBay defamation suit centers on Web comments about seller


A judge has dismissed three of the claims in a lawsuit over a
Nevada woman's allegedly disparaging comments about an eBay
seller -- but attorneys continue litigating remaining issues in the
complaint including a count of defamation.

The lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas on June
24, has attracted the attention of some eBay participants by highlighting
the issue of how much freedom eBay buyers should have to publicly
complain about purchases they make on the online selling exchange.

Nikki Foote of Henderson, also known as Kristy Cunningham,
was sued over comments Foote allegedly publicly posted on eBay
as user "nikki809" charging that the Gucci handbag she purchased
for $495 was a ⊗⊗⊗⊗.

The seller, Ruhanieh Badi’i of Austin, Texas, insists the bag is
authentic and says the comments have hurt the eBay trading
business that is her livelihood.

District Judge Douglas Herndon last month dismissed counts in
the lawsuit alleging unjust enrichment, conversion and deceptive
trade practices and gave Badi'i time to file an amended lawsuit.

Badi'i and her husband Faris Badi'i, who initially had no attorney in
the case, hired Las Vegas lawyer Rebecca Teale Balint, who on
Dec. 14 filed an amended suit asserting claims of breach of
contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and
fair dealing, defamation and portraying the plaintiffs in
a false light.

The Badi'is continue to assert that eBay will not remove the "false
and disparaging comments" from its feedback system without a
court order or the consent of Foote/Cunningham.

The new suit also charges that Foote/Cunningham created a claim
with Paypal falsely asserting the handbag was an imitation and that
Paypal then confiscated from the Badi’is $506.95 -- the cost of the
bag including shipping and handling -- and refunded that money to Foote/Cunningham.

"Ms. Foote and/or Ms. Cunningham never intended to pay plaintiffs for
the handbag and instead engaged in this ruse to obtain a luxury handbag
from plaintiffs for free," the suit charges, adding Foote/Cunningham
eventually agreed to return the handbag at issue after being sued.

The new suit seeks unspecified general and punitive damages and an
order requiring the allegedly disparaging comments to be removed
from eBay.

A Las Vegas attorney for Foote/Cunningham, Julie Sanpei, filed a
response Dec. 28 denying the allegations and stating: "Defendants
did not either knowingly, in reckless disregard or negligently make
an allegedly false allegation against plaintiffs."

Sanpei couldn’t immediately be reached for further comment.

Faris Badi’i said Friday that Foote/Cunningham sent the Badi’is a box
supposed to be containing the returned handbag, but that the Badi’is
have not yet opened it and only plan to do so with witnesses present
or under court supervision so as to prevent any disputes as to what
is in the box.

He said that for him, the lawsuit is not about whether fair criticism of
eBay sellers should be allowed.

"This is about the fact she posted false information," he said.

[forummember]

About time something like this happened.

[rsot]

Excellent pro-action. Will be interested to see follow-up

[jeffweico]

I'm keeping an eye on the case. If it is WON, then we will get all kinds of good info. If it SETTLES, the most likely outcome, then we get much less info.

PayPal (and most companies that get sued for whatever reason) tend to settle the case if they think they will lose. That way there is no precedent set, and no actual court ruling. Settlement terms are almost never disclosed, unfortunately.

[pod]

Problem with a case like this is eBay/PayPal is not named as a defendant. So they don't care. It may bring them some bad press if the story got some attention. But two people battling it out in court likely means nothing to them.

[jeffweico]

Originally Posted by pod

Problem with a case like this is eBay/PayPal is not named as a defendant. So they don't care. It may bring them some bad press if the story got some attention. But two people battling it out in court likely means nothing to them.

Generally true. HOWEVER - if a few of these suits succeed, then an attorney is going to get creative and try to find a way to hold eBay and/or PayPal liable. I'm not an attorney, but I think there COULD be a way to do this since the feedback system is now so one-sided.

Lord, I miss the OLD EBAY! 1995-1998 were definitely the golden years for sellers.

[pod]

Originally Posted by jeffweico

Lord, I miss the OLD EBAY! 1995-1998 were definitely the golden years for sellers.

Hell, even 3 or 4 years ago it was a gravy train. I honestly believe they simply can not keep up this system of turning their back on sellers for much longer. Another year of this and they just wont have the sellers they need. Most of the huge sellers are surviving on a very tight margin. They start losing 10 or 15% to fraud they just wont find eBay feasible anymore. Not to mention the fees have risen to an absurd level....

And in my opinion, eBay and PayPal don't get attacked buy the government as much as they could because they are very powerful in the political environment. Over the years they have made some very powerful connections in government. But that's a different conversation and way off topic.