Beaverton church sues family after they criticize it online - Polidicks

[quote]BEAVERTON, Ore. - A church pastor is suing a mother and daughter for $500,000 because they gave the church bad reviews online. The family being sued left the church a few years ago and Julie Anne Smith says she and her family were shunned and couldn't understand why. So she went online and wrote Google and DEX reviews of the church and then started a blog. "I thought, I'm just going to post a review," Smith said. "We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?" Never did she think Beaverton Grace Bible Church and Pastor Charles O'Neal would slap her with the lawsuit. "I'm a stay-at-home mom. I teach my kids at home, and this is just not the amount of money that normal moms have." When the family left the church, Smith says friends were told to end all contact with her. "If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way," she said. "All we did was asked questions. We just raised concerns. There's no sin in that." Dissatisfied, she went online to write reviews. Other church members counteracted them with church praise. So Smith started a blog called "Beaverton Grace Bible Church Survivors." But the pastor claims in the lawsuit he filed that her words, "creepy," "cult," "control tactics," and "spiritual abuse," are defamation. "What somebody does in the church is one thing, but when you get out into society we have the right to free speech, and it may not be what people want to hear, but we absolutely have that right," Smith said. The lawsuit didn’t just target Smith. Her daughter and three other commenters are also being sued. "He can say what he wants in the church and say, don't talk about this or don't talk about that, or don't talk to this person, but when you're out in the civil world, you don't do that anymore," Smith said. "And he's not my pastor anymore. He does not have that right to keep people from talking." The Smiths filed a special free speech motion to dismiss the lawsuit. It goes before a judge later this month. KATU News called the church, went there, went to the pastor's home and spoke to his wife. KATU News also called the pastor's attorney. All of them declined to give their side of the story.[/quote] [url]http://www.katu.com/news/local/Beaveton-Grace-Bible-Church-lawsuit-charles-oneal-julie-anne-smith-151227055.html?tab=video[/url]

I don't think the church stands a chance at winning this. She's free to call it a cult if she wants and there's nothing he can do about it. The fact members who haven't left ignoring her entirely just reinforces her claims.

Immediate dismissal is going to happen, there's no way this is going to go through.

No way this can go through. It really baffles me that some pockets of the United States still haven't accepted their own constitution. Don't they teach that stuff at school? If they don't already have a racial/religious tolerance/fundamental rights courses integrated into the school curriculum I think they really should. I see so many stories where people think they have the power to do things that they simply do not. It's not defamation to be upset that you're being shunned because you left a church. If anything this lawsuit can be turned around because the pastor is probably telling all of the church followers to shun a family because of their religious views. That's actually defamation.

"hhrrrrmmm dont be mean you meany thats mean >:II" [editline]16th May 2012[/editline] OP was mean to me I better sue

Absolutely fucking horrible people. Who the hell sues for a bad review? By the way, since the event happened the church has now gotten 487 reviews, bringing it down to a 1 star. :v: [B]Email for the church: [email]chuckoneal@cleaninter.net[/email][/B]

[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;35976290]Absolutely fucking horrible people. Who the hell sues for a bad review? By the way, since the event happened the church has now gotten 487 reviews, bringing it down to a 1 star. :v: [B]Email for the church: [email]chuckoneal@cleaninter.net[/email][/B][/QUOTE] Done. Wrote them a stern letter telling them how I felt. [editline]16th May 2012[/editline] guys im being sued wtf

[QUOTE=Keyblockor;35976211]Immediate dismissal is going to happen, there's no way this is going to go through.[/QUOTE] It's America so you can't be too sure... [editline]16th May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Corey_Faure;35976290]Absolutely fucking horrible people. Who the hell sues for a bad review? By the way, since the event happened the church has now gotten 487 reviews, bringing it down to a 1 star. :v: [B]Email for the church: [email]chuckoneal@cleaninter.net[/email][/B][/QUOTE] [IMG]http://niggaupload.com/images/2Jqor.png[/IMG]

[QUOTE]When the family left the church, Smith says friends were told to end all contact with her. "If I went to Costco or any place in town, if I ran into somebody, they would turn their heads and walk the other way"[/QUOTE] Are you guys still living in middle ages or what?

[QUOTE=smeismastger;35977103]Are you guys still living in middle ages or what?[/QUOTE] obviously you're just another one of those atheist satanic muslim liberals what commie country are you from

[QUOTE=TheFishyG;35977153]obviously you're just another one of those atheist satanic muslim liberals what commie country are you from[/QUOTE] I am from the Godless country of Satan's Finland. Our metal places a demonic seed into everyone who hears our witchcraft spell music, that will make them abandon holy Jesus and God and turn into child molesting and rampaging murderer they call atheists Also we are socialists

I'm going to sue gayry he rated me dumb :(( [QUOTE=Corey_Faure;35976290]Absolutely fucking horrible people. Who the hell sues for a bad review? By the way, since the event happened the church has now gotten 487 reviews, bringing it down to a 1 star. :v: [B]Email for the church: [email]chuckoneal@cleaninter.net[/email][/B][/QUOTE] Serves the church right, so stupid.

She has a couple of defences, the subject matter (her church experience) can be considered a matter of public interest, and it is her honest opinion. Honest opinion as a defence can't be defeated on the basis of malice or ill will, so long as she believed the comments to be true. She could also argue that her claims about the behaviour of the pastor and church are substantially true, which should be an adequate defence against defamation.

[QUOTE=J!NX;35977174]I'm going to sue gayry he rated me dumb :(([/QUOTE] Oh you poor soul :( His nasty online cult won't get away with this!

This is stupid. Defamation is "the pastor had sex with a minor and killed their dog", not "the church is exhibiting cult-like qualities from what I have experienced". Get bent, Chuck.

Silencing dissent, exactly what you'd expect from a cult.

there's a fine line between libel and freedom of speech this doesn't even come close to that line

If this fly's I don't even know, I remember last year there was a family with a sickly baby with cancer or something equally terrible and a neighboring couple harassed them about how their baby is going to die and as I remember it nothing was ever resolved/stopped, But if the [i]"U MAEK MAH LORD UBER MAD"[/i] Religion trump card is played and they get anywhere im just gonna move to Malaysia and becoming a farmer.

[QUOTE=Corey_Faure;35976290]Absolutely fucking horrible people. Who the hell sues for a bad review? By the way, since the event happened the church has now gotten 487 reviews, bringing it down to a 1 star. :v: [B]Email for the church: [email]chuckoneal@cleaninter.net[/email][/B][/QUOTE] streisand effect :v:

[QUOTE] When the family left the church, Smith says friends were told to end all contact with her. [/QUOTE] That just sounds depressing and scary. Fuck the church.

M'urrica.

*sob* they called me a bad name.

[QUOTE=Rapist;35980357]*sob* they called me a bad name.[/QUOTE] Let me guess. They called you a rapist, huh?

Apparently he responded: [IMG]http://niggaupload.com/images/vr6P.png[/IMG] :v:

There was this case where a thief was stealing car parts from someone's car. Owner of said car arrived, not noting him and got inside the car and accidentally drove over the thief's arm. The owner was sued and lost against the thief. WHAT THE FUCK.

[QUOTE=znk666;35980540]Apparently he responded: *long response* :v:[/QUOTE] Even if that was true why they hell are they suing for $500,000. It seems to be a jumbled mess and I don't think we can fully trust either side until there's more [i]actual[/i] news and information on this case.