For many legal professionals, responding to a stop and desist letter is an train in draft after draft of incremental enhancing till, “go piss up a rope, you ambulance chasing shitbird” reads extra like, “in consideration of the document and related caselaw, we respectfully decline.”
Marc Randazza doesn’t do the final half. If something, his meticulous enhancing ratchets up the creativity. Residing out that unfiltered expression is an neglected perk of a free speech follow. It’s additionally a helpful advertising technique as a result of if you happen to’re the form of particular person going through a weapons-grade silly authorized menace, that is the kind of response that makes you say, “Sure, that’s my man.”
Enter @murrayhillguy. When his potential date requested a query about politics, he referred to as off the date and posted the textual content dialog on-line. The lady concerned didn’t admire their dialog changing into social media fodder and lawyered up, commissioning some poor soul to draft a takedown letter dictated between deep sighs and furtive glances on the retainer verify.
We function First Modification counsel to the proprietor of the X account @murrayhillguy.
Your consumer, Julia agreed to a date with my consumer. She then requested him if he voted for Zohran Mamdani, (implying that it mattered within the context of the date) and my consumer’s response was to cancel the date and to put up the alternate on his social media account. Just a few individuals laughed. That ought to have been the tip of it.
To be honest, that does matter within the context of a date. Because the different viable various was a man compelled out of his final job over sexual harassment operating on a platform of “yeah, however who cares?” it appears completely affordable if a lady needed to ensure she wasn’t committing to an evening of getting to observe her drink from her personal date. As a result of New York employs the much-more-rational ranked alternative system, she’s not even asking if Mamdani was the man’s first alternative — the entire race was “do you not rank Cuomo or not rank Mamdani” so she’s very a lot asking if her date was the kind of man who may say, Jordan Peterson has quite a lot of good concepts.
However on the extra basic level, sure, this could have been the tip of it.
Mates, it was not the tip of it. As a substitute, the letter claims she advised that she would “name the police” earlier than finally hiring a lawyer to ship a requirement letter. The letter didn’t fairly accuse anybody of defamation — as a result of it couldn’t actually — however it apparently tried to radiate imprecise menace about “sure representations could also be construed as defamatory or damaging to our consumer’s status and well-being,” earlier than promising to “take into account additional authorized cures.”
Randazza savaged this effort:
I sense by the tenor of your demand that you simply don’t completely consider in it your self. I believe that your dialog with Julia went one thing like “Julia, there’s not a factor you are able to do about this, are you out of your fucking thoughts?” Then one thing (apart from conviction within the concepts expressed) satisfied you to say “superb, I’ll ship this silly demand.” I’m sorry bro. I get it. Typically you simply get caught in a state of affairs.
There’s no Rule 11 (or corollary) for a stop and desist. It’s the least a lawyer can do and, in a state of affairs like this, additionally probably the most.
I’m going to take your menace actually – that if my consumer doesn’t take away this content material from his social media, you’ll take into account additional authorized cures. You’ll take into account them, then notice that each one of them is fucking silly. Then that would be the finish of this.
Or you’ll be able to escalate this, and we will make you look even dumber. Your transfer.
Demand letters make quite a lot of empty threats. Responses like this one try to impose a canopy cost on the open bar of contemporary C&D farming.
(Full letter on the following web page…)
Joe Patrice is a senior editor at Above the Regulation and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Be at liberty to email any suggestions, questions, or feedback. Observe him on Twitter or Bluesky if you happen to’re inquisitive about regulation, politics, and a wholesome dose of school sports activities information. Joe additionally serves as a Managing Director at RPN Executive Search.
