Legally Speaking
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Legally Speaking
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By Charles Drennen
A few months back, a friend of mine moved out of her apartment and at the walk-through of her old place, the leasing agent said all was in order, that they’d send the security deposit in the coming week. It never came, so my friend called the management company. They said they’d sent it, but still it didn’t come.
The phone calls, emails and letters stretched out over the better part of two months. At first the management company was dismissive, then rude, then they just ignored her altogether. That’s when my friend came to me.
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Legally Speaking
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By Charles Drennan
My last column on Internet defamation generated a great deal of response, so I’d like to revisit some of the issues our readers raised.
First, though, a few readers guessed as to the identity of the “friend” and “bloggers” I referenced in that column. This leads me to the following disclosure.
Over the last six months or so, three people have come to me with questions about Internet libel, each inquiring about separate instances of allegedly defamatory blogging. Of course all of these conversations are confidential, but because of the interest in the topic I felt it was a good issue to address in my column.
To protect confidentiality, unify the legal topics at issue, and make the piece more readable, I created a composite “friend” and composite “bloggers.” The anecdotalization in my last column represents the general tone and spirit of the stories I gathered, but it does not represent an actual conversation with a single individual.
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Legally Speaking
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By Charles Drennen
Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words cause permanent damage. I don’t remember who said that first, but I was reminded of it when a friend recently came to me with a problem. He’d just started a new business and was reaching out to the community for business connections, potential partnerships, and advertising opportunities.
Within a few weeks of his nascent venture, though, an acquaintance of his posted a few negative comments on a blog. The accusations ranged from the nonsensical to the nefarious: dishonesty, fraudulence, promiscuity, drunkenness. Anything bad that could be said about someone, this blogger said.
The bad blood between the blogger and my friend goes back some time, and for most of that time the insults took the basic form of rumor and innuendo. So and so said such and such; this being passed over drinks or coffee among friends – that kind of thing. The blog posts, though, were something bigger. The rumors were circulating more widely. Friends of friends were asking him if these things were really true.
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Legally Speaking
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By Charles Drennen
A few weeks back I wrote in this column about how to expunge a criminal record. Included in that piece was the fact that many criminal records simply can’t be erased. All felonies and many misdemeanors are stains on a record that are permanent, stains that make impossible putting an isolated mistake behind you or moving on from a checkered past.
In my mind that’s a shame. We all make mistakes, and while we should pay for them, there should be a point at which that payment is deemed tendered in full. Unfortunately, though, a permanent record of a DUI, a drug charge, or myriad other offenses exact a price far after a sentence is served or probation is completed. It can interfere with job advancement, securing credit, or even getting a lease.
There’s plenty of room to debate what the goals of our criminal and penal systems ought to be, but rehabilitation should figure large in that debate. The process ought to allow people who have made mistakes the opportunity to expunge their records if they’ve shown that they are good citizens who aren’t inclined towards criminality.
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Legally Speaking
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By Charles Drennen
A friend of a friend runs drinks and waits tables at an Irish bar here in Chicago. It’s a place with busy shifts, and demanding costumers. The owner and his wife manage the place, so it has a family feel to it. Overall, she told me, it’s a pretty nice gig as far as restaurant jobs go.
Over the summer she picked up a waiting shift. The restaurant was a busser short, and on top of that the Cubs were on. She and the other servers were in the weeds from the start.
Toward the end of the shift she was hustling to drop her last checks and to begin her side work before the next servers came on. She noticed that one of the servers had dropped a glass near a table, and asked the busser to take care of it.
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