In the world of rare and collectible cars, prestige is paramount. The rarer the car is, the more prestige the car has. That prestige flows to an owner and their reputation as the custodian of fine cars. That reputation, however, can be destroyed almost overnight by a smear campaign legal action. A smear campaign can devalue your car essentially. An unscrupulous competitor can destroy the perceived worth of your car through a smear campaign targeting the car’s owner. A smear campaign can be as innocent as a negative review left online or a post on a forum. The problem is that, once released into the wild, a smear campaign can’t be rescinded. Like a fictitious car for sale ad in a newspaper (also called “advertorial”), negative information about a car or its owner can fetch inquiries that target both.
A smear campaign in the automotive market is targeting the owner of a car without premising factual accuracy in the account. The smear campaign can take several forms, but it often takes the form of an online review or online post. Most often, the content that the smear campaign generates centers around a number of related issues: fairness and transparency, honesty and integrity, reputation, value or perceived value, and buyer and seller who are targeting that particular vehicle.
There are many legal actions that a collector can take to address a smear campaign. In the automotive market, it may be possible to initiate a civil suit against the person or persons participating in the campaign to start the process of correcting the damage that the campaign has caused.
The first option is to file a lawsuit against the individual(s) responsible. This can be done in federal or state court. In the federal court system, a civil suit is commenced by filing a complaint with the court and paying a filing fee. Every state has different procedures, and in some cases, a collecting car enthusiast may be able to initiate a lawsuit by filling out the necessary paperwork and submitting it to the appropriate court. Federal courts and most state trial courts allow an individual to file a complaint, initiate a lawsuit, with the help of a lawyer or on their own (pro se). In either case – whether you work with a lawyer or you don’t – you should expect to pay a filing fee, which can range from a few hundred dollars for claims up to $10,000 to tens of thousands of dollars for cases over $75,000.
In addition to filing fees and service of process fees, you and your lawyer must pay the costs of whatever evidence you need to support your claims. However, you may wish to file a request with the court to waive the filing fees should you not have the requisite filing fee, and the court may allow you to submit the complaint and initiate the lawsuit without paying the filing fee.
The next option is to file a motion with the appropriate state or federal court. You can file a case about a fake car ad or allegedly false review, but the most important thing to do is to initiate a motion to stop the ability of the person engaging in the smear campaign from posting their statements.
The damages caused by a smear campaign can be devastating. An unscrupulous person may make a specific claim or series of claims about a car or an individual selling the car. However, if a collector initiates legal action, you can stop a competitor from spreading their false and damaging statements.
For more information on legal actions related to defamation and reputation management, you can visit Wikipedia’s page on defamation.