I would call this industry news!

[ZOG]

http://m14forum.com/m14/145566-i-need-lawyer-served-sei-lawsuit-today.html

[DNP]

Damn. Someone sure started a poop storm. Wonder shar the thought process was like on that one???

[shibiwan]

All I can say is "Wow!"

 

It's bad for business IMO. It could potentially ruin the company, unfortunately it doesn't look like the plaintiffs understand the ramifications of such lawsuits.

 

Gonna grab some popcorn and watch what happens next....

Edited September 6, 2013 by shibiwan

[gnatshooter]

Wow. Reading the whole lawsuit is well worth your time. Basically the guy is getting sued for what he posted in a discussion group, like this one. Gotta wonder if CMMG might want to go after a few people with a copycat lawsuit over a few unkind remarks about their stuff. This is bad news and lawyers ain't cheap. This is like holding blog commenters to the same standard as newspaper reporters.

[planeflyer21]

Thread started two days ago and is at 31 pages already?!?!

 

JMO but there seem to be some real sheethead arms manufacturers in the Phoenix-metro area these days.  

 

Hate to see SEI in on it now...and blaming LRB to boot.

[planeflyer21]

Wow. Reading the whole lawsuit is well worth your time. Basically the guy is getting sued for what he posted in a discussion group, like this one. Gotta wonder if CMMG might want to go after a few people with a copycat lawsuit over a few unkind remarks about their stuff. This is bad news and lawyers ain't cheap. This is like holding blog commenters to the same standard as newspaper reporters.

 

On the OP's link, a person in that forum posted references to two other pages bitching about SEI.  warrifles.com and smithenterprisessucks.com

 

Interesting that several people on that first page alone have offered to chip in for legal costs for the defendant.

[shibiwan]

Thread started two days ago and is at 31 pages already?!?!

 

JMO but there seem to be some real sheethead arms manufacturers in the Phoenix-metro area these days.  

 

Hate to see SEI in on it now...and blaming LRB to boot.

 

Unfortunately that's true. Lots of douchebags in town.

 

Almost everyone in town that I know who is into guns is aware of the lawsuit. I'm not surprised that it's already at 31 pages.

 

-S

[mineralman55]

Damn. Someone sure started a poop storm. Wonder shar the thought process was like on that one???

It's a shame because there aren't going to be any winners in this except the lawyers.

 

One problem is that there are a lot of let's call them "strong personalities" in the M14 community, especially over on that forum, and if you disagree with any of them then you'd better put on your body armor. For right or wrong, someone took great exception to what was written and it's come down to this. Let it play out.

Edited September 7, 2013 by mineralman55

[edgecrusher]

Disclosure: my wife is an attorney for the court system out here working for the Superior court judges.

She said that if any of the op's statements had truth to them, it's an automatic defense to libel, defamation, and slander. He'll be ok, minus lawyer fees and time in court.

This should put that company out of business IMHO

[shibiwan]

This should put that company out of business IMHO

 

Yup, there's a good chunk of the population that does not understand how internet justice works.

 

Remember the douchebags at Amy's Baking Company?

 

-S

Edited September 6, 2013 by shibiwan

[blue109]

Doesn't the prosecution have to prove that the defendant knowingly lied to make this type of thing stick? I know that's almost impossible to do. That's how all the scum bag journalists get away with slandering whatever they want.

[Robocop1051]

I got sued last year for nearly the same thing. I went online and called a former cop (who we just fired) a coward, a criminal and a liar. I posted my comments on a liberal website and started a HUGE battle here locally.

He came at me with a libel and defame lawsuit. A judge ruled that because I was a peer (not a supervisor/management), i was allowed to express my opinion. He deemed it a 1A issue and ruled in my favor before it ever went to trial.

I just call is as I see it.

[planeflyer21]

<laughs>

 

After reading through that lawsuit filing...

 

SEI claims they are the only ones using "forged barstock" to manufacture M14 receivers.  LRB makes them, has photos on their website of the process, used to have photos of the spec sheet.

 

On the forum posting, someone claimed that SEI had passed the buck to LRB for some manufacturing defect.

 

Seems that something as small as that claim being inaccurate could sink their whole lawsuit.

 

<dontknow>

[ZOG]

if you read thru it there is a link to a thread where SEI or someone related to them posted that a few of their receivers had a heat treat issue.

 

that should relieve Hammond of all of this.

 

if that poster was not from SEI then they should go after him I guess.

[imschur]

There is a reason in the rules I ask for proof when someone has something to say negative about a manufacturer.

[MaDuce]

I am probably going to anger some folks but I am rooting for Smith here.  There's something called slander and slander can be extremely damaging and it's something people; especially so-called upstanding citizens seam to have no problem doing. I am glad someone is finally stepping up and putting a stop to it.

 

 It's one thing if you are relaying false info unknowingly, but if you know better and make damaging false statements anyway, then your butt needs to be hung out to dry.

Edited September 8, 2013 by MaDuce

[Robocop1051]

Slander only fits if there is no truth or facts behind the accusations. I'll admit, I didn't read all the crap in that thread. There's far too much noise to weed through, to find the facts. From the sounds of it, the accuser popped off about some bad practices by the company. Some of which, others claim, the company originally admitted to and then later denied after receiving negative reviews.

Whichever side is the liar, they should be eating crow. I hate liars and thieves more than anything. If one,

[planeflyer21]

IIRC, Smith also sued the US military for making their own version of the Vortex.

[MaDuce]

Slander only fits if there is no truth or facts behind the accusations. I'll admit, I didn't read all the crap in that thread. There's far too much noise to weed through, to find the facts. From the sounds of it, the accuser popped off about some bad practices by the company. Some of which, others claim, the company originally admitted to and then later denied after receiving negative reviews.

Whichever side is the liar, they should be eating crow. I hate liars and thieves more than anything. If one,

 

I admit I don't know all the facts either, just that slander is something we need to stop ignoring and/or taking lightly. I'm with you about liars and thieves though. In fact I'm probably a little harder towards thieves then you. I am not religious myself nor am I a "believer" but I jnderstand the benefits of such beliefs and I am getting the impression that the disappearance of spiritual and/or religious belief in our siciety is leaving that moral gap unfilled resulting in a society that increasingly has less and less hesitation to lie, cheat, steal etc.

 

 There's functional significance to theft and lieing. For lying, I heard a line from a counciler on TV who I think put it best, "if you don't tell me the truth then I'm fixing a lie." meaning, lies lead to action that rests on a non-existent foundation. Stealing; on top of violating someone's sacred space, interfiers with the individual's lifestyle in unpredictable ways and often to surprising extremes. For example, if you ASKED someone for... say, a valuable video series because you're board or maybe wanna sell it for food or other necessities, it might be no skin off their shoulders to give it to you. An example of a theft case, I had a guy ask me to keep a look out for some rare video game and he didn't have internet. I found it and he paid me to order it (at a time when I myself was broke) and it arrived when he was out of town. Before he got back it went missing and there was a theft scare. It turned out someone just moved it without saying anything. During the process of finding it, the point was raised that it's an old video game which; to the untrained eye, looks like an unwanted piece of junk that wouldn't be missed yet it would have absolutely devistated me had it been stolen while I had newer and fancier items that wouldn't have been a big deal to part with.

 

 You can never fully predict what people really do and don't need and how valuable what posessions are to them. If you ask for something, people will often give you what they can afford to part with or what is of little value and you will often be surprised what that is. But when you steal from people, you are very likely to disrupt their lives in a dramatic way by removing a seamingly insignificant piece of their operation they can't afford to loose. There are many cases of people actually dieing because of terrible circumstances caused by one seamingly insignificant posession being stolen. One of the most well known examples is the harsh punishment of horse thieves. There was a time (and still is in some places) when stealing a man's hourse could mean him stranded and dieing from dehydration and/or starvation among other things. Even now, theft is much more serious then most people seam to think.

Edited September 8, 2013 by MaDuce