Earlier today I was carbon copied on a series of emails between Matthew Harris, a Contractor in West Virginia, and Matthew Close, the owner of National Fraud Alerts (NFA). The emails dealt with demands for a Mortgage Field Services Industry Firm to publicly release their Pricing Data. After requesting that I be removed from the series of emails and any future ones, I reached out to the owner of the Firm and had an impartial discussion. The nature of my Article is not so much about condemning what I consider to be shakedowns as that is easily addressed by litigation from the offended parties. What I want to discuss is the boundaries which are both legal and acceptable in the Digital Media Age.
Everyone has an opinion. In the United States, these opinions and the rights to them are enshrined in our Constitution. For example, Foreclosurepedia is a Blog based upon my personal opinions. Foreclosurepedia, though, walks a pretty thin line and when we state that, “So and so defrauded such and such Contractor,” I make sure that I have either cited the publicly available material or that I have emails and often recorded conversations backing these allegations up. In this, we are dealing with fairly cut-and-dry issues. In tort law a plaintiff cannot bring a libel lawsuit against a defendant with a public reputation as a liar. The legal reasoning is that a known liar cannot damage the reputation of anybody, because nobody will believe the slanderous remarks of a known public liar! This is why folks like Rush Limbaugh, Mark Levine and Michael Savage are not in Court every twenty minutes. The below subquote quantifies where I am going and comes from Liberalbias.com,
“I wouldn’t want to go out on a limb and speculate, but I will tell you this: you certainly couldn’t be criticized for believing that Obama is a rapist!”Suppose you want to convey this controversial idea: Obama is a rapist.
That’s juicy, isn’t it? Because you are a giddy, excited right-wing conservative, you are just tickled and delighted by the thought of spreading this notion around.
But you can’t just …. say it. Then, someone might be able to claim that you are wrong. And it’s important that you never be wrong.
Opinions are not absolute license to bully from the pulpit. So, Foreclosurepedia’s material is couched in an arcane, legal manner which is presented as Media Entertainment. Ask anyone in the Management Sector, Heather Berghorst included, and they will state that, “Foreclosurepedia is bullshit and Paul Williams is a liar.” So, consensus is that virtually anything I say or do is already preordained to be incorrect — ah, the lawyers keyed to that. Don’t get me wrong in that I do not maintain files on everything I put out to cover my own ass; what I am saying is that I am not an entity which issues Official Statements upon which the Industry acts upon — generally.
National Fraud Alerts (NFA) is substantially different. As far as I can tell, NFA has only ONE REASON for existence. That reason is to issue bona fide recommendations to its Readership and the General Public with respect to whom a person should and should not work for. Great. I think that is somewhat a good idea and Foreclosurepedia runs ClearBase as well as the ISTAR Classified Repository. The difference is that neither ClearBase nor the ISTAR Classified Repository are accessible to the Public. Now, with respect to NFA, it would appear that they have some “reports” to substantiate their views and that is good as well. Where NFA goes off the rails, though, is that they encourage discrimination against those with mental illness. This is a Civil Rights Violation and clearly violates the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) as I see it.
Harassment can include, for example, offensive remarks about a person’s disability. Although the law doesn’t prohibit simple teasing, offhand comments, or isolated incidents that aren’t very serious, harassment is illegal when it is so frequent or severe that it creates a hostile or offensive work environment or when it results in an adverse employment decision when it is based upon incorrect or undocumentable information.
There is a term called couth which is used to describe how one interacts with a given situation. When a person reaches out to interact with another, civility is usually the recommended flavor. More on point, though, when you are getting ready to publicly level accusations against someone, taking an abrasive approach generally communicates that the other’s opinion is immaterial. Here is a snippet of what upset me about being included in the carbon copied emails which I wanted nothing to do with anyway,
[Redacted]:
Please comply with the requested information of Construction Management Ind. L.L.C. or an investigation into your company will begin. This industry already has enough damages. You have 24 hours to comply. Please send your pricing sheets to this email address ([email protected])Respectfully;Matthew CloseNational Fraud Alerts
I mean have these people lost their minds? You have 24 hours to comply — who the fuck do these people think they are?! The Firm that was being shaken down was just added to Close’s National Fraud Alerts for their refusal to send pricing sheets. I mean this is the epitome of madness! Personally, if someone had sent me crazy shit like this my boys and I would have loaded up and paid a personal visit for an in person interview. This Firm will probably opt for the judicial process, though.
There is a difference between offering the ability to opine on information and demanding that people COMPLY. More on point, though, there is no place in this Industry for shakedown artists like this. I state this is a shakedown because Close is stating that if the Firm does not produce proprietary pricing information Close is going to initiate some kind of boggy man strategy to make them pay.
NFA runs afoul on a plethora of other criteria critical to maintaining a legitimate, non partisan issues which go directly to core of their veracity. Take for example the inability to even fully finish their website — simply roll over the circular photos. With respect to the typos which caused a migraine, those speak for themselves. The Legal Disclaimer, though, I am concerned about. When you look at most legitimate Scam Reporting Websites, the information related by people is published even if their name is not. The reason for this is that it goes towards the credibility or veracity of the statement that it was the third party whom formulated both the opinion and statement. Additionally, it allows for the IP Address to be produced for subpoena or other legal reasons. National Fraud Alerts does not do this. What the reader is left with is the simple fact that NFA alleges there are reports and they, unbiasedly and in good faith, have issued the quasi alert. Any first year law student would have a field day with this.
Foreclosurepedia makes no bones about the fact that our Opinion is our own. When we opine upon allegations we clearly cite the origins of the Sources. We display quotes from our Sources to reinforce how we came to our opinions which thus opens up the Looking Glass to comprehend our Industry View. National Fraud Alerts does not do this. In fact, there seems to be a clear statement that NFA is issuing their own statement which rather negates NFA’s Legal Notice.
Both Harris and Close have made it clear that they are going to wage war against anyone whom might not find their product to be credible. The reality is that while I am an advocate for shutting down fraudulent purveyors within the Mortgage Field Services Industry, there must be protocols followed. The blatant disregard for acceptable standards; the targeting of those whom might be mentally challenged, is beyond the pale of acceptable standards. More on point, though, to infer that their information is substantiated by Foreclosurepedia is both false and reiterates my position that those whom report upon the Industry need to polish up upon their understanding of media law.
As we went to press, we received this,
You have been removed
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Client PanelMatthew CloseMember/Chairman-Board of Directors-National Fraud AlertNational Contractor’s Association of America
