Accusing a Business Competitor of Being a Sex Offender

The state is Michigan.

I recently "took over" a rival taxi service, we'll say ABC Taxi. On the first day of operation it became known to us that a rival firm, 123 Taxi, had tried to usurp the school "contract".

The former owner of ABC Taxi, whom we'll call Ralph, who was now working for me as an independent contractor driver, informed me that one of the drivers dispatched to pick up these school children by 123 Taxi was a sex offender. We'll call him Jim. I asked him to repeat this. He said that while Jim worked for ABC Taxi (prior to me owning it) he had confessed to being a sex offender, and would not be allowed to pick up school children. On Jim's application he was listed as a felon, but did not specify what for.

I immediately contacted the school liaison to inform her of this. I informed her that I had been told that Jim, dispatched by 123 taxi service was a sex offender. This, of course, was of great concern to her. We were back to picking up the children that afternoon.

I contacted the owner of the rival business and offered to buy him out, saying it was pretty dumb to send a sex offender to pick up school children. I did not name the "sex offender". I did not say "Sending Jim, the sex offender, to pick up school children was dumb". I just said "Sending a sex offender to pick up school children was dumb".


Now the rival company, 123 Taxi, and their driver Jim are talking slander lawsuit.

Ralph, former owner of my current company says that the driver confessed that he himself was a sex offender and that's why he could not pick up school children when he worked for said company. In fact, several people knew of this while he worked there.


How concerned should I be? What potential damages am I looking at? When it comes to financial losses the driver in question wouldn't have been able to pick up school children anyway on account of his felony convictions, and 123 Taxi had sent unfingerprinted (The background check you ened to pick up school kids) to pick up school kids, and would've lost the contract anyway (presumably).

Did you take any measures at all to verify the information you were passing on, such as checking whether "Jim" was on a sex offender registry?

Which state? I knew he was wanted in California. This might mean he was a sex offender there, or at least accused. He might be a sex offender in any number of states and I don't believe I have access to all of that information.

What I did know was that he was scheduled to be picking children up (illegally I might add because he was not fingerprinted as per our michigan laws) later that day...

So the question was "Do I let the children ride with the self described sex offender while I research him in every single state, or do I say something to the public school liaison?".

Now, let's say he DID do something horrific and I "knew" he was a sex offender and I said NOTHING.

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Quoting sirrus56

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Which state? I knew he was wanted in California. This might mean he was a sex offender there, or at least accused. He might be a sex offender in any number of states and I don't believe I have access to all of that information.

What I did know was that he was scheduled to be picking children up (illegally I might add because he was not fingerprinted as per our michigan laws) later that day...

So the question was "Do I let the children ride with the self described sex offender while I research him in every single state, or do I say something to the public school liaison?".

Now, let's say he DID do something horrific and I "knew" he was a sex offender and I said NOTHING.

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Given the information you've provided about the context in which this happened, you can expect to be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions if this matter is pursued. Your intention is going to come up as an issue.

Even if you passed on unverified information in good faith as you allege, any competent opposing counsel is going to ask why you reported that information to the school liaison and not the police and child protection authorities if your only motivation was protecting children from possible harm.

Your subsequent offer to buy out the rival business after taking an action which could damage the reputation of that business, and your specific reference to the incident when making that offer, are not going to be ignored by an opposing attorney.

Now maybe 123 and Jim are just blowing smoke and nothing will come of it, but given the context in which this all occurred I'd strongly suggest that you arrange a consultation with a lawyer in your jurisdiction. Your own post suggests that it was the information you provided to the school liaison which caused 123 to lose their new contract - if the information you provided turns out to be untrue, then proving your motives were not malicious may not be easy.

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Quoting Lolie

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Given the information you've provided about the context in which this happened, you can expect to be asked a lot of uncomfortable questions if this matter is pursued. Your intention is going to come up as an issue.

Even if you passed on unverified information in good faith as you allege, any competent opposing counsel is going to ask why you reported that information to the school liaison and not the police and child protection authorities if your only motivation was protecting children from possible harm.

Your subsequent offer to buy out the rival business after taking an action which could damage the reputation of that business, and your specific reference to the incident when making that offer, are not going to be ignored by an opposing attorney.

Now maybe 123 and Jim are just blowing smoke and nothing will come of it, but given the context in which this all occurred I'd strongly suggest that you arrange a consultation with a lawyer in your jurisdiction. Your own post suggests that it was the information you provided to the school liaison which caused 123 to lose their new contract - if the information you provided turns out to be untrue, then proving your motives were not malicious may not be easy.

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I was actually asked by the school liaison to keep my mouth shut and we DID talk to the police about it.

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Quoting sirrus56

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I was actually asked by the school liaison to keep my mouth shut and we DID talk to the police about it.

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Have you obtained any information since this happened which confirms whether your allegations were true or false? The truth or otherwise of the statements made is a pivotal issue in defamation actions.

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Quoting Lolie

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Have you obtained any information since this happened which confirms whether your allegations were true or false? The truth or otherwise of the statements made is a pivotal issue in defamation actions.

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I have no proof the allegations are true at this time.


Here's a few of my questions.


First, if I never said HE was a sex offender, only that I was told he was a sex offender... is that defamation?

Second, if he tells people he's a sex offender, effectively defames himself as it were... and other people believe him... and tell others... how can he sue people for... believing him?

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Quoting sirrus56

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I have no proof the allegations are true at this time.


Here's a few of my questions.


First, if I never said HE was a sex offender, only that I was told he was a sex offender... is that defamation?

Second, if he tells people he's a sex offender, effectively defames himself as it were... and other people believe him... and tell others... how can he sue people for... believing him?

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The quickest way for you to have peace of mind about this issue is to consult an attorney in your jurisdiction about the risk of a viable defamation action against you, remembering that if the claims are true that would be an absolute defence.

Defamation actions can be difficult and expensive to pursue - even moreso when the claims from both sides boil down to "he said/she said" - so even when a valid cause of action does exist pursuing the action is often not viable. Not are they the kinds of cases which attorneys take on contingency. For those reasons, the majority of threats to sue for defamation will go nowhere.

I think you are on very thin ice here.

You did nothing to confirm this "fact" of yours.

If Ralph lied to you or if he got the crime wrong, this could and should become very expensive for you.

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Quoting cyjeff

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I think you are on very thin ice here.

You did nothing to confirm this "fact" of yours.

If Ralph lied to you or if he got the crime wrong, this could and should become very expensive for you.

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Well, what are my options... have the accused sex offender driving the school kids around and say nothing... or speak to the police and the transportation official in charge of the school kids?

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Quoting sirrus56

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Well, what are my options... have the accused sex offender driving the school kids around and say nothing... or speak to the police and the transportation official in charge of the school kids?

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YOU DON'T KNOW A DAMN THING.

If RALPH knew something, he should have called the police and reported it.

YOU, on the other hand, better pray that Ralph didn't just set you up.... to find yourself dangling from a huge lawsuit that will bring bankruptcy upon you...

In fact, you bought the taxi company, now you will get sued, then Ralph gets to buy the company back from you for a song after you lose.

Ralph may have just played the crap out of you.

I know he was accused. So you're telling me the self confessed sex offender should be picking up grade school kids while I do nothing?

Interesting. And when it's found out I knew and did nothing?

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Quoting cyjeff

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I think you are on very thin ice here.

You did nothing to confirm this "fact" of yours.

If Ralph lied to you or if he got the crime wrong, this could and should become very expensive for you.

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And incidentally, the only people we spoke to about it were the police and the school transportation administrator.

If you want to find out if the person in question is a sex offender then you will need to go to the Michigan state police web-site. Click on "Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry" and follow the screen and enter the persons first and last name. If you don't get a hit, then he isn't a sex offender.

There is no need to search every states database as it's a federal law for a sex offender to register with the municipality that they reside. For instance, if John Doe living in Orlando, FL was a convicted sex offender his information would be listed on the Florida state police web-site. Once John Doe packed up and left Florida for Michigan he would have to register as a sex offender in the county that he resides in. This would add John Doe to the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry and drop him from the registry in Florida as he is no longer a threat in that state.

If you have already searched on the Michigan Public Sex Offender Registry and haven't found him listed then you and your business are in for a real lawsuit. 123 Taxi has damages from a lost contract from the Board of Education and there may be more to follow. I'm uncertain about Jim's lose but I would be afraid of 123 Taxi at this point.

Your option was to speak to the police about Jim serving the Board of Education. The police would have done an investigation and found Jim was a sex offender and notified the BOE, or found out he wasn't a sex offender and you wouldn't be here asking questions.

My take is you jumped the gun in order to profit for your business, and any jury if this case comes to it will see the same if 123 Taxi gets a great trial lawyer.

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Quoting sirrus56

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I was actually asked by the school liaison to keep my mouth shut and we DID talk to the police about it.

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The reason the school asked you to keep quiet was because they don't want this information getting out as it's part of the schools fault that a sex offender was in there system.

They would confirm if Jim was a sex offender and also confirm if any children were harmed by Jim before THEY release any news to parents.

So...am I to understand it doesn't matter that HE told people he was a sex offender?

Its possible that IF he was just convicted that he may not show up on the site until they do an update and enter his info, but from the sound of things if he was convicted it may have been some time ago. They update there sites monthly.

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Quoting sirrus56

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So...am I to understand it doesn't matter that HE told people he was a sex offender?

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Again, that is RALPH's story you keep quoting.

hearsay is STILL not permissible in court.

Did he every tell YOU that he was a sex offender?

And there are sex offenders and sex offenders. Sometimes it means that a 19 year old had consentual sex with their 17 year old girlfriend. Not all sex offenders prey on children.