north metro

Excellent! I hope she learned a lesson!

Why does the mother have to pay for her daughter's online behavior? The daughter sure doesn't sound like a minor to me, so shouldn't the daughter have to pay the fine?

Well, hold on here, the judge never rendered a decision as to the truth or not of the woman's statements. She didn't show up in court so she lost. That's far from the same thing.

I'm fairly sure the word 'rant' suggests that not every statement is to be taken as veridical. The Kessler's needed a better lawyer.

State the facts, then state your reaction. DON'T speak in conclusions such a fraud, improper license etc. Your point is as strong if you state the facts and ask "does that feel like fraud to you?" or "is this substandard craftmanship?"

davehoug - while your statements may be true, she lost because she didn't show up in court, not because of her words.

This is exactly why north Minneapolis blogger John Willard Hoff aka "Johnny Northside" was hit with a $60,000 jury judgement. He used his blog to damage a persons reputation. And he is being sued again for the same reason, as he has harassed and damaged another persons reputation. John Hoff uses his blog to harass and intimidate people, and the courts are giving a clear message that you need to watch what you say, and how it effects/affects people.

The reason the mother had to pay, is it was her property the work was done on. She is the one that had the contract with the company. Jumping right into conciliation court, wanting full refund to have someone else rip out the work already done, that has minor imperfections, that the contractor was going to fix, indicates the mother is out to get something for free. She tried it with the wrong contractor. I wonder how many times these two lovely ladies have been to court. It is one thing to have a valid complaint, and to do so, it is quite another to be angry and try to deliberately hurt someone because you don't like how things went for you.

I guess the argument is still out for common sense. Don't lie, you wont be sued.

Actually in this case I am not sure the court is saying anything. If the defendant doesn't show up, the court has no choice but to rule in favor of the plaintiff. The lesson here is show up for your court dates. Now if Kessler had bother to show up, the case outcome may not have been as clear. The Minnesota Supreme Court has held: "We hold that a private individual may recover actual damages for a defamatory publication upon proof that the defendant knew or in the exercise of reasonable care should have known that the defamatory statement was false. The conduct of defamation defendants will be judged on whether the conduct was that of a reasonable person under the circumstances." In that Johnson had prior violations with the State, could a reasonable person have construed those violations as Johnson operating fraudulently? I wouldn't have bet on that outcome working against Kessler and in Johnson's favor.