Is this possibly libel - *Trigger Suicide*

[FumingAboutABook]

Posting for traffic and name changed so not to link to my other posts as this will be very outing.

Background, I was in a very abusive relationship, he was violent, financially abusive and extremely controlling, this all came to a head a couple of years ago when he took his own life (and of course the note he left laid all the blame for this at my feet).

Prior to this practically nobody knew about the abuse apart from my work but even then they had no idea of the true extent of the situation. After he took his life a fair bit of the abuse came out but in typical fashion most of his friends denied he was like this and made excuses for him etc.

Anyway today I received a message from an old mutual "friend" who I haven't spoken to since it all happened (he also moved countries so I was very easily able to avoid contact with him). the message was to let me know he had written a book about the life of my ex including a whole chapter about me and asked for me to buy a copy from Amazon and leave him a review as it is his first book. He has admitted that it is not an exact true version of events and that he has made the ex out to be a more successful guy than he was but has remained true to him and is easily identifiable.

I haven't yet bought the book, mainly because I don't want to give this guy any money but obviously I want to know what has been written about me.

My main question is, if I am easily identifiable (and I know he has used my real first name at least as one of the chapters is titled as my name) is there anything I can do to have the book removed from publication? I certainly don't have the money to start fighting him through the courts but obviously don't want the world to know the ins and outs of the worst time of my life. Especially as a lot of people still don't know the full extent of what I went through.

I know I am going to have to buy the book and check out what is actually written first before I can potentially do anything but just wanted to know what I could do if anything?

Get someone to buy the book, read it yourself, then consult a solicitor.

Bloody hell. There's some knowledgable people on here, so I really hope one of them comes to give you some good advice. I just didn't want to read and run. I'm so sorry for everything you have been through - and pretty speechless that your "friend's" manner of letting you know he had written a book concerning you was to ask you to buy a copy! I can't even comprehend how anyone could be so insensitive.

OP you'd be best reporting your post and asking MN to move it over to the Legal board.

God that's awful......... And I'm no expert but I'm sure you have to give permission to be named in a book.

Sorry didn't mean to allow voting, though I'm apparently 14% unreasonable, presumably for being upset that someone could write a book like this and the way they have gone about informing me.

I have someone I trust who has said they will buy the book for me so that the writer doesn't know I have a copy but I don't have the money to pay for solicitors.

I don't live in the UK but in the Channel Islands so things are a little different here, no free 30 mins consultation here. Am wondering though if it might be worth spending the money on legal advice or if it would be a complete waste of money and I am best just chalking this up to somebody being a knob and getting on with my life and hoping for no comeback from this book.

Probably his shitty self published book will not sell any copies anyway.

If you think that it will, or he has other money, maybe worth investing in legal advice after you've read it?

Libel cases are extremely expensive to bring and quite tricky to win. Most are remedied out of court.

First of all you need to establish if what is in the book is defamatory. The only way you’re going to do that is to read it.

If there is anything in there about you specifically that is not true, and that one other person could identify you from, and that might make people think less of you, then that may be a reason to take it forward.

The first step would be to see a solicitor and to write a letter to the author asking them to withdraw. If they don’t, it might start getting expensive.

I think it would come down to whether people will know who you are and what repercussions it might have for you, whether it would be worth pushing forward from a legal stance (I’m not a solicitor btw, but I mean from the perspective of the trauma and cost involved).

If someone has written a book about your ex, presumably they are someone who would be well known (at least enough to have an audience out there who might want to buy a book about them). Would people also know you? Either because you are also high profile enough or your name would be associated with your ex if they googled? Like is it obvious that you, Susan Smith, are the Sur from Chapter 5?

And how serious would the repercussions be for you if people did learn your identity? Like does he have wacky admirers out there who would stalk you or would it damage your reputation, lose you work, etc? I think those things would be my concerns.

I would start by asking him for a copy of any part that references you.

See what he says.

I also imagine no one will buy this book and you will never hear about it again.

I don't think you can do much just based on other similar stories. If it's stating opinion and not presenting fact it's probably a non starter. I know there's an author with a review on Amazon by someone who is furious at the book and has said it's untrue etc and based on her but that seems to have gone nowhere.

No lawyer, but I would say that it depends to some extent if this is self published, or backed by a firm. My guess would be self published because any firm would check out the legal situation.
It does not bode well that they didn’t ask for your input when writing the book, surely they should have, as you were actually there. I would brace myself for a load of inaccurate nonsense, butif3 people are going to buy it, and I say 3 if both their parents are alive, why worry?

It's a long time time since I studied libel law but until someone more knowledgable comes along... If you are identifiable (even if the your name has been changed), what is said is defamatory, it will have a negative impact on you (eg people will dislike you, you will lose money, professional credibility) and the author cannot prove what he wrote is true, then you would have a case for libel. If your ex made untrue allegations against you in his suicide note, it would be libellous to repeat them.

Privacy is a different matter though. You can't necessarily stop someone from writing something that is true.

Is it actually a properly published book? Is your ex's life story one that people are likely to be interested in?

If it's some self published rubbish on Amazon I'd be inclined to ignore it.

Buy it and see what he said about you. Take it from there.

What a bizarre thing for him to do. The chances of anybody reading it are so remote that I would just ignore it.

If you want to do more, the question to ask is who is publishing it. Is it a proper publishing house? If so, I'd send them a letter warning them that you have been informed that it contains defamatory content and if so, you intend to take legal action. This may give them pause for thought.

If it's self-published, chances are remote that it will ever get a second look from anybody. His mother might buy a copy to please him.

Well I think he can probably write what he likes providing it’s true.
Think you’re going to have to read it first and take it from there.
Is the subject of the book well known at all, I’m only asking to see if any one would buy a copy any way.

Is there anything about your ex that would make people want to read a book about him? Was he famous? If not, then making a fuss is likely to lead to the book selling far more than it otherwise would. He may be relying on you having a public hissy fit to generate some publicity.

Is it self-published? If so that may make it less likely to ever be read by anyone apart from maybe the author's immediate family. I wouldn't do anything until you know exactly what is in the book. Then I do think it would be worth taking legal advice.

If he's used your real name, isn't that a breach of your right to privacy?

Sorry OP this sounds awful.
My understanding of libel laws is that it depends. If he is being truthful about you and can prove it, there is nothing you can do. Even if he is not being truthful, the court would have to accept that you are easily identifiable.

First of all, he didn't send you a copy, but wanted a review?

Be very aware not to comment anything to him, no review of course, but nothing to him personally. This may be his way of boosting interest for his book, a nice little bun fight ☹️.

Hope you can get legal advice. Best of luck.

And simply using your first name does not automatically mean you are identifiable.

Assuming it is self published, he has probably signed an agreement with Amazon to say it is not defamatory. Here is what the Kindle agreement says:

5.8 Representations, Warranties and Indemnities. You represent and warrant that: (a) you have the full right, power and authority to enter into and fully perform this Agreement and will comply with the terms of this Agreement; (b) prior to you or your designee's delivery of any content, you will have obtained all rights that are necessary for the exercise the rights granted under this Agreement; (c) neither the exercise of the rights authorized under this Agreement nor any materials embodied in the content nor its sale or distribution as authorized in this Agreement will violate or infringe upon the intellectual property, proprietary or other rights of any person or entity, including, without limitation, contractual rights, copyrights, trademarks, common law rights, rights of publicity, or privacy, or moral rights, or contain defamatory material or violate any laws or regulations of any jurisdiction; (d) you will ensure that all Books delivered under the Program comply with the technical delivery specifications provided by us; (e) you will be solely responsible for accounting and paying any co-owners or co-administrators of any Book or portion thereof any royalties with respect to the uses of the content and their respective shares, if any, of any monies payable under this Agreement; and (f) you will not attempt to exploit the KDP service or any other Amazon program or service. To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold Amazon, its officers, directors, employees, affiliates, subcontractors and assigns harmless from and against any loss, claim, liability, damage, action or cause of action (including reasonable attorneys' fees) that arises from any breach of your representations, warranties or obligations set forth in this Agreement. We will be entitled, at our expense, to participate in the defense and settlement of the claim or action with counsel of our own choosing.

If the book is defamatory, the easiest solution might be contacting Amazon and asking them to remove it.

unless your dp was in the public eye there is no reason for this book to sell. As another poster said - do not respond in anyway to this person. Do not acknowledge the message at all. I'm sure it will all disappear....along with the book.

Thanks for all the replies.

My ex was in no way famous or well known and nor am I so I appreciate that it is unlikely to sell many copies. The writer has a lot of contacts/is well known within business communities over here so I worry he may get quite a few people who will either know me through work or at least know of me (it is a very small place over here!).

It is unlikely to have a negative effect on my professional life (work helped me massively at the time so my direct boss, HR, CEO etc are all fully aware of what happened and wouldn't pay any attention to the book), also can't see how it would impact me financially so I guess no legal route to take which is fine, don't really want to go down that route anyway.

I guess I just can't believe somebody can be so callous and of course I don't really want people I see out and about on a daily basis to read all this bullshit. I know that people will always gossip and some will believe anything they hear whilst others will gladly ignore it all, that's just life.

I need to just bite the bullet, buy and read the book and decide how much energy to bother wasting on this idiot and his nonsense I guess.

Wow what a massively unreasonable person. I can't believe his cheek to be honest. I'm so sorry he's made you so identifiable. What a massive twat.