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00:00You own a limousine business.
00:02Someone posted an unflattering review.
00:05People are saying, I'm a drunk driver.
00:07I'm an alcoholic.
00:08She's the moderator of the page.
00:09Just take it down.
00:10I did not personally approve that post.
00:12I was running a little bit late to take a bunch of party
00:14girls out to a club.
00:15You didn't show.
00:16The other driver did the job within a half an hour.
00:18You think that's right?
00:19May I ask, why do I have to apologize to her?
00:21Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:25Now on Tribunal Justice.
00:49Today's case was filed in Sarasota, Florida.
00:53Yeah, it's case number 3052 on the calendar in a matter of Ward
00:56versus Borak.
00:58Thank you, Bert.
00:58You're welcome, Judge.
00:59Parties have been sworn in.
01:00You may be seated.
01:01Mr. Ward, you own a limousine business.
01:05And Ms. Borak, you are a moderator for a Facebook group
01:08that provides information about local businesses.
01:11The name of your Facebook group is Sarasota.
01:14Word of mouth.
01:16And Mr. Ward, you're now suing Ms. Borak
01:18because someone posted an unflattering review
01:21about your services.
01:22She refused to take it down.
01:24You maintain that you lost a good deal of business as a result of that post remaining up.
01:29And you're now suing her for $5,000.
01:32Ms. Borak, you deny owing Mr. Ward any money.
01:35You say you didn't make the post, you didn't approve the post, and the post was ultimately
01:39taken down.
01:40So you claim you owe him nothing.
01:42Mr. Ward, how long have you been in business?
01:45Over 30 years.
01:46You've had some very illustrious clients.
01:48Can we put up Exhibit 8, please?
01:51Quite an old picture of you and our current president.
01:55When was this taken?
01:56That was taken a long time ago.
01:57Yeah, it was.
01:58You both look like babies.
01:59I worked for him for a couple of years just recently back at Mar-a-Lago.
02:03You were a driver for the now president?
02:05Yes, ma'am.
02:06Let's get to the heart of your case.
02:07Who's Melissa Presley?
02:08I don't know.
02:09Just a client who made a reservation with me and then canceled it because we had hurricanes.
02:14I lost my house during the hurricane.
02:16And then we rescheduled a couple about a week or so later to take a bunch of party girls
02:20out to a club, like an Uber.
02:23So I was running a little bit late.
02:25The center, she said, hey, where are you at?
02:26I said, I'm running a few minutes late.
02:28I'll be there when I get there.
02:29I had a client in the car, so I couldn't answer the phone.
02:32That's why I sent her a text back.
02:34I'm going to run a little bit late.
02:35So just so we're clear, Melissa Presley was someone who had booked your services and you
02:39didn't show up on time?
02:41Correct.
02:41Is this the post that you wanted the defendant to remove?
02:45Yes.
02:46Why couldn't Melissa just put it on her own page, on her own wall, instead of going to
02:50the word of mouth page where there's 65,000 people to see that I'm running a little bit late?
02:55Ms. Borak, what's your role at this Facebook page?
03:00I'm a moderator, so I sometimes help approve posts, approve members.
03:06I make sure that people aren't spamming, being rude to anybody else.
03:10Did you approve this post?
03:12I did not personally approve that post, no.
03:14What does the group do?
03:14Sarah said a word of mouth is kind of what its namesake is.
03:18It's word of mouth.
03:18So you can give referrals for good businesses.
03:21So if you wanted to post, looking for a great hair and makeup artist, we don't.
03:25And it's a review service.
03:26So potential consumers can see what other clients thought about the services being offered.
03:31Yes, ma'am.
03:31What sorts of rules are in place to make sure that somebody doesn't just post something that's
03:37a slur or untrue?
03:40So we try to vet everybody.
03:42So we only allow negative reviews to the wall itself because it's too hard to go through
03:48everybody's page originally and be like, okay, well, this is the boyfriend of this person.
03:52So they're just posting a good review for them.
03:54You know, there's a lot of fake good reviews.
03:55So with negative reviews, we try to look everything over, make sure that there's evidence, stuff like that.
03:59Melissa had screenshots in her post of Eddie not responding.
04:03In fact, can we put up exhibit 12?
04:05Melissa's support for the bad experience that she had with the plaintiff.
04:09And Mr. Ward, you admit you didn't show up on time.
04:12You were pretty honest about it.
04:14Yes, it was scheduled for 730.
04:16I was going to be there around eight o'clock.
04:17So why does the defendant have an obligation to remove a post that you yourself admit was true?
04:22Okay.
04:23Well, that post that continued on was a bunch of people are saying I'm a drunk driver.
04:28I'm an alcoholic and then just spun out of control of a bunch of fake stuff.
04:33So hold on.
04:33I'm just asking to take the post off the wall.
04:35Just take it down.
04:36Hold on, hold on.
04:37Let's put up exhibit one, a comment to the original post that suggests that you were driving drunk
04:44and driving customers while you were intoxicated.
04:48Complete 100 made up stuff.
04:50How can you prove it's made up?
04:51It's your burden.
04:52I don't even know who these people are.
04:54I looked up their profiles and there's like two pictures and that's it.
04:57No history, no stories.
04:58So those are fake posts.
05:00Those are fake profiles making up fake posts.
05:02Now, let me ask Ms. Borak, were you aware of this comment?
05:05Yes.
05:06But did this person who made this post provide any evidence of the fact that he was actually
05:11drunk?
05:12Because this is a pretty serious charge.
05:14I'm not sure.
05:15There was hundreds of comments and everything was happening very fast.
05:18I also have three kids, a business, a job.
05:22So I'm not on this 24-7.
05:24That's why there's so many.
05:25So you may have missed it.
05:26Yes, ma'am.
05:26But you did tell him to do what?
05:28I told him that if he would apologize to her or if he wanted to tag me in any derogatory
05:33comments, I would remove those for him.
05:35Did you tag her?
05:36Because I didn't see evidence that she was tagged.
05:38I just saw that you...
05:39I was not allowed to post.
05:40I was not allowed to respond to any of the posts.
05:42She blocked me from responding to any of the posts.
05:46Coming up on Tribunal Justice...
05:49You are lying to me.
05:50I'm not lying.
05:50And now that makes everything you say to me suspect.
05:59Limo driver Eddie Ward says a scathing online review threatened to destroy his business,
06:04so he's suing the website's moderator, Rachel Borach, for $5,000 in lost wages.
06:09But Rachel says Eddie made no attempt to remedy the situation he created, so she owes nothing.
06:15I want to talk about your claim for damages, Mr. Ward, because you submitted evidence that you lost business,
06:23that someone was going to book with you, and that they subsequently did not make the booking.
06:29It's Exhibit 2.
06:30It's a Facebook message, isn't it?
06:32A private message, yeah.
06:33And it says that the message originated from Ohio, and you are in Florida.
06:39How do I know you didn't do this?
06:41Florida's a transient state.
06:43Visitors come down every week.
06:44Visitors from Ohio can be in Florida tomorrow.
06:46How do I know what that person was going to pay for your services?
06:49Maybe they were going to book you for $20.
06:52The fact that you don't know makes it hard for me to rely on this evidence.
06:56Do you have any other evidence of losses?
06:58It's hard to prove evidence when it's phone calls and other texts.
07:01I didn't realize I was going to be here.
07:03I'm glad that you mentioned the phone calls, because you were doing a lot of engaging with
07:07the folks on this platform.
07:09I guess private message and asking them to take things down.
07:12It's causing me a lot of damage and havoc.
07:14And then you submitted evidence of what you say is harassment by the defendant's boyfriend.
07:19Can we put up exhibit nine, please?
07:23So this is a bunch of really nasty words being exchanged between you and someone else.
07:31That's you, sir, the blue bubble.
07:34Yeah, that's my side.
07:34That's you.
07:35By the way, you give as good as you get, but how do I know that they're from her boyfriend?
07:39They're from other administrators of that page.
07:42How do I know that?
07:43Well, you have to prove it.
07:45Yeah.
07:45Ms. Barak, how many moderators are there on the site?
07:48I believe five or six.
07:49There are five or six moderators.
07:50She's when I claim that she's a moderator that's in charge.
07:53And she's when it's telling me to apologize or else, and then she'll take the post down.
07:56So I'm like, who do I apologize to?
07:58And what am I apologizing for?
07:59I'm speaking with her as a moderator.
08:01I need you to stop.
08:03Now, I need to understand why you are suing this particular defendant.
08:08Okay.
08:09She's the one that said she's the moderator of the page.
08:12That's why there's lots of communication between her and I, me asking her, just take the post down.
08:17That's all that I'm asking.
08:18She even is laughing at me saying, I'll take it down when you apologize.
08:22I'm like, who am I apologizing to and for what for?
08:25The job I was running late for was picked up by another driver within 30 minutes,
08:29which means, okay, the job is being covered.
08:32I'm done.
08:33I can go on.
08:33But not your driver.
08:34It wasn't a driver that you dispatched.
08:36Another driver, yes.
08:36So you knew why she wanted you to apologize.
08:39Put aside whether or not you needed to.
08:41I didn't know what I'm apologizing for.
08:42For not showing up when you were paid to do a job.
08:44I wasn't paid.
08:45But, you know, to come here and play dumb.
08:47You don't show up when somebody books you for a job and you don't know why you should apologize.
08:51I mean, maybe that's why you got the bad review,
08:53because you don't understand customer service.
08:55The job was covered.
08:56Judge Domingo.
08:57You know, Jerry Seinfeld had a skit where he goes to pick up a car that he had reserved,
09:02and they say we don't have the car.
09:04And he says, you know how to make the reservation.
09:08You just don't know how to keep the reservation.
09:11And that's kind of what happened here.
09:13You made a reservation with this young lady for her bachelorette party.
09:18And then when the time came, you didn't show.
09:21Now, I think the mix up here is the apology.
09:26And you correct me if I'm wrong.
09:27The apology that you wanted him to make was at the time of the call.
09:31When she reached out to you and she said, hey, where are you?
09:35That's the point in time that the apology was being suggested.
09:40Would I be correct about that?
09:42Partially, but also I just think, you know, today's day and age with social media,
09:45I think everyone would have been on his side if he had just taken accountability.
09:48Right.
09:49Maybe if you had been accountable at that moment in time, you wouldn't have even had the post.
09:53When you said to him, tag me, if you would tag me on the wall or whatever, what is that?
09:58Tell me.
09:59I meant if he would tag me in the comments.
10:00So if there was like a negative comment, like, so somebody on there was actually threatening Melissa
10:07about, you can't talk bad about Eddie, we'll bash you over with a beer bottle.
10:10But the...
10:11So a comment like that, I got tagged in.
10:13I removed that person.
10:14I removed that comment.
10:15Why can't there be another way for you to remove it?
10:18Why couldn't it be the fact that he reached out to you and said, hey, listen, this post is causing
10:21me problems.
10:22Not this post so much, but the one that was allegedly responded to by the other person.
10:27He did not send me the other post or anything like that.
10:29I said, if there's any comments, there's hundreds.
10:30So you never saw the other post.
10:33I did see that one later on when I started to review after everything.
10:37But originally, this was the only post and there was over 500 comments.
10:42Sir, you've been in business a long time.
10:44Yes.
10:44I mean, you got to make some enemies along the way.
10:46No.
10:46You have to have some good business and some bad business.
10:49And if you do something wrong and you make someone angry, they are going to post something.
10:55Her job as a moderator is to make sure that that post was not false, was not slanderous.
11:01And indeed, it was true.
11:04Correct?
11:05No.
11:05Yeah.
11:06But are you going to tell me that this is not true?
11:08You didn't go late?
11:10May I answer?
11:10No, no.
11:11I want an answer to that question.
11:12Because once you start to lie up there.
11:14I was going to be there at 8 o'clock instead of 7.30.
11:16No.
11:17I read the post.
11:18It said you confirmed with her.
11:19This is the worst thing you could have done for yourself right now.
11:227, 7.30, 8, 8.30.
11:24It could have been any time.
11:24Well, then why don't you just get to her house at 6 and wait until they came out?
11:27Because I was in Miami with a group for three days.
11:29I was on my way back on the interstate.
11:31That's the first thing, a group for three days.
11:32Yeah, a family for three days, a family.
11:34Now you're with a group for three days.
11:35Yeah, coming back.
11:36You're lying to me.
11:37I'm not lying.
11:38And now that makes everything you say to me suspect.
11:42Coming up on Tribunal Justice.
11:45Another driver that used to work for me picked him up.
11:47Great. You think that's right.
11:48My child says that that was right.
11:49I take away their Game Boy.
11:51Do they even have Game Boys anymore?
11:57Limo driver Eddie Ward says he was the victim of an online hit job when website moderator Rachel Borock allowed
12:04a poor review to be posted.
12:05He's suing her for $5,000.
12:08But Rachel says the review was true.
12:10And Eddie is just having a major meltdown.
12:13You're lying to me.
12:14I'm not lying to you.
12:15And now that makes everything you say to me suspect.
12:18I'm not lying about anything.
12:19I was right in the middle of it.
12:20Oh, Jessel.
12:21Come on.
12:21Another driver showed up.
12:22You were still late.
12:23That's not the point.
12:24I didn't even show up.
12:25The other driver did the job within a half an hour.
12:28Okay.
12:28Thank you for that.
12:29Coming back from Miami.
12:30Thank you for that.
12:30Judge Levy.
12:31Mr. Ward, I think I understand your position pretty well.
12:34That you were just running late.
12:36Yes, sir.
12:36What time were you supposed to be there?
12:38I thought it was 730, but I was going to be there around 8.
12:40At that time, at 8 o'clock, you actually have other people with you, according to what you told Judge
12:45Acker.
12:45I'm dropping them off, and I'm about five minutes away.
12:48Okay.
12:48Could you please show me the text that you sent to Melissa, in which you said,
12:54I'm five minutes away.
12:55I'll be right there.
12:56Well, I'm going to hope.
12:56Because that's going to be really important.
12:58Because I can tell you that if it's not there.
13:00It's here.
13:01Good.
13:01Let me see.
13:01I do a lot of charity work for the hospital administrators.
13:04So to damage my reputation.
13:06No, no, no.
13:06Don't focus.
13:07Please.
13:08May I ask, why do I have to apologize to her about-
13:10Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
13:13I have a question that's been on my mind.
13:14Just find me your text where you apologized for running late.
13:19I did delete a lot of stuff from being upset.
13:21No, you wouldn't.
13:22You would not have deleted the only evidence that would have proved you were correct,
13:27that would have established a basis for the defendant to take down the post.
13:31When she was saying to you over and over and over again, why don't you just apologize?
13:36You would have said, I did apologize.
13:38I told her, I'm sorry for being late.
13:40I'm going to be right there.
13:41You never did that.
13:42They got another ride within 10 minutes.
13:44Why do I have to-
13:45So if I'm talking to my child, and we're having this conversation right now, what I would say
13:51to my child is, so let me understand you correctly.
13:55Because you screwed up, someone else's life was made more difficult, and you just chose not to apologize
14:03because they figured out another way to get what they needed.
14:06You think that's right?
14:07Another driver that used to work for me picked them up.
14:09Great, you think that's right.
14:10My child says that that was right.
14:12I take away their Game Boy.
14:13Do they even have Game Boys anymore?
14:16I got older kids.
14:17Okay, you were asked by Judge Acker, you know, again, why didn't you apologize?
14:22I'm always trying to stay in that night, because my house was blown away.
14:23I got it, I got it.
14:25So let me ask you a question.
14:26When the defendant suggested to you that you simply respond to Melissa's text, correct?
14:33Yes, sir.
14:34And explain that you apologized for being late, you apologized for slipping your mind,
14:40and the reason is because we as a community know that we just had this hurricane, and there's a lot
14:45going on.
14:46You received that?
14:47Yeah, and I did respond.
14:49Hold on.
14:49They denied my post.
14:50They wouldn't let me respond on the wall.
14:52Is that correct?
14:52No, sir.
14:53I see absolutely no evidence to suggest that that's correct,
14:55because there were other texts that you sent.
14:57There were other Facebook posts after that initial incident when the appointment with Melissa slipped your mind.
15:03So you said, what am I apologizing for, and who am I apologizing to?
15:07Yeah.
15:07Okay, so that would be Melissa.
15:09I said that.
15:10And that would be for slipping your mind, and you chose not to do that, and that's your choice.
15:14And I would have.
15:14Okay, great, but you didn't.
15:15They had another driver picked up right away.
15:17Yeah, I got it.
15:18I got it.
15:18We're back to my kid's story.
15:20Let me ask you this.
15:20You go with your mother to a doctor's appointment with her.
15:23No, I don't do that.
15:25Well, pretend you were a good son, and you did.
15:27All right.
15:28So you drive her to a doctor's appointment that she's scheduled, and it took her a month to get.
15:34And when you two show up, the person in the doctor's office says, you know what?
15:38This appointment slipped my mind.
15:41In Sarasota, every doctor is running late by hours, because I take people to doctor's offices.
15:45All right.
15:46So two wrongs.
15:46Another driver picked up the job.
15:48I get it.
15:48So I don't understand why this is such a dramatic event.
15:51And then people just started making stuff up.
15:53That's the part I'm upset about is, okay, I agree.
15:56I'm running late.
15:56The post is fine.
15:57And you know who's both that is?
15:58It's the follow-up stuff.
15:59Yeah, that's okay.
16:00No, it's not.
16:01Yeah, that's okay.
16:02I'm not an alcoholic.
16:02I don't drink ever.
16:03You'll never see me in a bar.
16:05You'll never see me with a drink in my hand.
16:06But I'm losing business because somebody's post says that I'm a drinker.
16:10Listen to me.
16:11There's no one in this courtroom that knows more about defamation cases than I do.
16:15I've brought them.
16:16I've defended them.
16:17It hurts.
16:18Mm-hmm.
16:18It sure does, but the ones that I brought were legitimate.
16:22The posts that people said about me that attacked my credibility, my reputation that I worked
16:27so hard for, like you claim you did yours, they were false postings.
16:32People like you who do something like you did to Melissa, don't apologize, and then you acknowledge
16:37the truth of those statements, and you want to silence them simply because of the effect
16:42that your own misconduct has on you, you know what?
16:45There's no place in the law to help you for that.
16:49None whatsoever.
16:50I have nothing further.
16:51When was the post taken down?
16:53Melissa posted this on October 21st.
16:56It was removed on the 23rd because Eddie was calling and harassing the company that the owner of the group
17:04also owns.
17:05So the post was up for two days. Just to be clear, it's my understanding that all of the comments
17:11are
17:11also removed. So the comment about him allegedly having been wasted was removed.
17:15Yes, ma'am.
17:16I don't see any losses, but I also don't have anything further.
17:20I have a couple of things that I was going to ask you and hesitated to, but you raised it.
17:24When somebody says to me, I never, ever, ever, ever drink, I always know that there's probably
17:29been a drinking issue. How long ago did you stop drinking?
17:34Uh, I've never had an issue with alcohol. I've never been in trouble with alcohol. I stopped
17:37drinking in my early 20s.
17:39I'm a limo driver. I'm a chauffeur.
17:42I'm sorry. I do have something on October 11th. Eddie posted in Siesta Key,
17:46Hurricane Kitchen Prep, and it includes a bottle of Jack Daniels.
17:50Yeah.
17:51After all it goes a long way when you're in a hurricane zone with other stranded people.
17:54It's like currency.
17:56Okay.
17:56Thank you for that.
17:57And I think that we're okay.
17:59We're going to retire to deliberate at this time.
18:00I go around handing out shots during hurricane parties.
18:03Thank you so much. We're going to retire to deliberate.
18:05The court now stands in recess. This case will be recalled. Parties are excused.
18:17I barely know where to start because there are so many reasons why his case fails.
18:22First, she's not the owner of the site. So if he has a grievance,
18:26arguably he should have sued the owner. Secondly, platforms like this are generally
18:32not liable for third party content unless they are somehow pushing the content.
18:37So, for instance, you know, there was a case involving TikTok where TikTok was found liable
18:41because they were actually suggesting content to viewers. Where the platform is simply receiving
18:46information from third parties, there's no liability. We wouldn't have an internet if we
18:51imposed liability under those circumstances. Thirdly, the content, at least the main post,
18:57was true by his own admission. I know he may think it's not a big deal to show up late
19:01when you're
19:01picking people up. I like how he was like, they were just girls going to a bar. I'm like,
19:07the comment was ultimately taken down. He's shown no evidence of damages. So I think that his case
19:13fails every which way. I think it fails on so many levels as well. And primarily,
19:19I didn't find him credible. He was just throwing things out there to kind of embellish his story.
19:25And the internet is what it is. And I said it, we all said it. He should have apologized at
19:29the outset.
19:30No good deed goes unpunished. Why her? It was because she was the only one in that group that
19:37decided to take the time to try to help him. And I think as all of us now know, he's
19:42not helpable.
19:43He's beyond help. And he viewed that almost like a vendetta that she had against him. I mean,
19:47he took that to such an extreme. I'm glad you reminded us of that point,
19:51because if she had just ignored him. Like everybody else.
19:53Like everybody else did, she wouldn't be a defendant in a lawsuit.
19:56No. I agree with you both. I think we're unanimous.
19:58OK, we are.
20:03Court is back in session. I remind parties you're still under oath.
20:07Thank you, Bird. We've deliberated and we quickly reached a unanimous verdict.
20:12Mr. Ward, there are so many problems with your lawsuit. First, we were a little baffled as to why
20:17you're choosing to sue this defendant instead of the platform writ large. She doesn't own it. And even
20:22assuming she did have some individual or personal liability, platforms such as this are generally
20:28not liable for third party content because people who own platforms want to provide a space where
20:36people can comment about services. If your theory of liability were to prevail, there would be no
20:41Yelp. There'd be no reviews of any kind. Thirdly, at least part of that content was demonstrably true,
20:48regardless of whether or not you think it's not a big deal to pick up girls when they want to
20:52driver to take them to a bar. People who are hiring you for those services find it quite a big
20:57deal.
20:57So Melissa's content was true. The content regarding your being drunk, we have no way of proving it or
21:03disproving it. It's irrelevant. And again, even if it's false, not her problem, not her liability.
21:10And finally, sir, you provided absolutely no evidence of damages. The post was only up a couple of days.
21:16If it was up longer, five days, as you say, there's still no evidence of damages.
21:21And Ms. Borak, Judge Levy reminded us of a really important point. And that is the only reason you're
21:27here is because you were nice enough to engage with him. Had you just ignored him like your colleagues
21:34did, you wouldn't even be here. You would just be another anonymous moderator. And he could have had
21:39his tantrum online. The only mistake you made was not bringing a countersuit because this lawsuit
21:45strikes me as vindictive and harassing. And I'm sorry that you had to deal with it. Your case is dismissed,
21:50sir. Good luck to you. Court is now concluded. Parties are excused. You may step out.
22:00I do a thousand jobs. Perfect. And then one, I'm 20 minutes late. I'm just glad that, you know,
22:05they know the truth. She laughed at me. No, sir. I felt really bad for the guy and I just
22:09wanted to try to help him if I could. And why is some girl I don't even know
22:13telling me I have to apologize to people? He harassed me over and over. We didn't really
22:17touch on that. Have you ever complained about your Uber driver being late before? You just get another
22:21one. Are you being sued? Let Tribunal Justice decide your case. Find us on social media at Tribunal Justice.
22:46you just get to know.
22:50you just like you have to do it on the phone.
23:05you just want to remember that you're you're making a deal.
23:05You
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