- 4 hours ago
Tribunal Justice S03E42
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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, I'm an alcoholic.
00:08She's the moderator of the page.
00:10Just 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 girls 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.
01:00And sworn in, you may be seated.
01:01Mr. Ward, you own a limousine business.
01:05And Ms. Borak, you are a moderator for a Facebook group that provides information about local businesses.
01:12The name of your Facebook group is Sarasota, word of mouth.
01:15And Mr. Ward, you're now suing Ms. Borak because someone posted an unflattering review about 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.
01:36You didn't approve the post.
01:38And the post was ultimately taken 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.
01:49Can 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.
02:00I worked for him for a couple 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 out
02:21to a club, like an Uber.
02:23So I was running a little bit late.
02:25Senator, 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.
02:34So just so we're clear, Melissa Presley was someone who had booked her services and you didn't show up on
02:40time.
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 the word
02:51-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?
03:15So Sarasota word-of-mouth is kind of what its namesake is.
03:18It's word-of-mouth, so 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, so 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 a slur or
03:39untrue?
03:40So we try to vet everybody, so we only allow negative reviews to the wall itself because it's too hard
03:47to go through everybody's page originally and be like, okay, well, this is the boyfriend of this person, so they're
03:52just posting a good review for them.
03:54You know, there's a lot of fake good reviews, so with negative reviews, we try to look everything over, make
03:58sure that there's evidence, stuff like that.
04:00Melissa had screenshots in her post of Eddie not responding.
04:03Exhibit 12, Melissa'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.
04:14It was scheduled for 7.30.
04:16I was going to be there around 8 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, I'm an alcoholic,
04:30and then just spun out of control of a bunch of fake stuff.
04:33So hold on.
04:34And I'm just asking her to take the post off the wall.
04:35Just take it down.
04:36Hold on.
04:37Just take it down.
04:37Let's put up exhibit one, a comment to the original post that suggests that you were driving drunk and driving
04:45customers 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 drunk?
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, so 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?
05:29I 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're lying to me.
05:50I'm not lying.
05:50And now that makes everything you say to me suspect.
06:13I 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.
06:42Visitors 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.
07:02I'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.
07:33The blue bubble.
07:34Yeah, that's my side.
07:34That's you.
07:35By the way, you give as good as you get.
07:37But how do I know that they're from her boyfriend?
07:40They're from other administrators of that page.
07:42How do I know that?
07:43Well, I...
07:44You 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 one that claimed that she's a moderator that's in charge.
07:53And she's one that's telling me to apologize or else...
07:55And then she'll take the post down.
07:57So...
07:57I'm like, who do I apologize to?
07:58And what am I apologizing for?
07:59Okay, I need you to stop.
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, which means, okay, the
08:31job 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.
08:36So 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.
08:45I wasn't paid.
08:45But, you know, to come here and play dumb, you don't show up when somebody books you for a job
08:49and you don't know why you should apologize.
08:51I mean, maybe that's why you got the bad review, because 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, and
09:03they say we don't have the car.
09:04And he says, you know how to make the reservation, you 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, and then when the time came, you didn't
09:21show.
09:21Now, I think the mix-up here is the apology, and you correct me if I'm wrong, the apology that
09:28you 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, that's the point in time that the
09:37apology 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, I think everyone would have
09:46been 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 mean, if he would tag me in the comments, so if there was, like, a negative comment, like, so
10:03somebody on there was actually threatening Melissa about, you can't talk bad about Eddie, we'll bash you over with a
10:10beer bottle.
10:10But the other...
10:11So a comment like that I got tagged in, I removed that person, I 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.
10:27Send 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, but originally this was the only
10:39post and there was over 500 comments.
10:42Sir, you've been in business a long time.
10:44Yes.
10:44I mean, you've got to make some enemies along the way.
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.
11:02And indeed, it was true, correct?
11:05No.
11:05Yeah, but are you going to tell me that this is not true?
11:08You didn't go late?
11:10May I answer?
11:10No, no, I want an answer to that question because once you start to lie up there.
11:14I've got to be there at 8 o'clock instead of 7.30.
11:17No, I 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.
11:23It 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.
11:30Now you have a new thing.
11:31Group for three days.
11:32Yeah, family.
11:33I'm with a client.
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.
11:47You 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?
11:57No.
11:58Limo 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, and Eddie is just having a major meltdown.
12:13You're lying to me.
12:14I'm not lying.
12:15Now that makes everything you say to me suspect.
12:18I'm not lying about anything.
12:19I was right in the middle of the night.
12:20Oh, Jess, come 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.
12:31Judge Levy.
12:31Mr. Ward, I think I understand your position pretty well, that you were just running late.
12:36Yes, sir.
12:37What time were you supposed to be there?
12:38I thought it was 7.30, but I was going to be there around 8.
12:41At that time, at 8 o'clock, you actually have other people with you, according to what you told Judge
12:45Acker.
12:45Dropping them off, and I'm about five minutes away.
12:47Okay.
12:48Could you please show me the text that you sent to Melissa, in which you said, I'm five minutes away.
12:55I'll be right there.
12:56Well, I'm going to help you.
12:56Because that's going to be really important, because 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, so to damage my reputation is a big deal.
13:06No, no, no.
13:06Don't focus.
13:08May I ask, why do I have to apologize to her about it?
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, that would have established a
13:28basis 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, you would have
13:37said, 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.
13:44So because you, so if I'm talking to my child, and we're having this conversation right now, what I would
13:51say to 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 because they
14:04figured out another way to get what they needed.
14:06You think that's right?
14:07Another driver that used to work for me picked him up.
14:10You 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?
14:15Wrong one.
14:16I got older kids.
14:17Okay.
14:18You were asked by Judge Acker, you know, again, why didn't you apologize?
14:22I'm not sure why I was staying that night because my house was blown away.
14:23I got it.
14:24I got it.
14:24So 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 it slipping your mind, and the reason is because
14:41we as a community know that we just had this hurricane, and there's a lot going on.
14:46You received that?
14:47Yeah.
14:47Right.
14:47And I did respond.
14:49Hold on.
14:49They denied my post.
14:50They wouldn't let me respond on the wall.
14:52No, sir.
14:53I see absolutely no evidence to suggest that that's correct because 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.
15:08So 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.
15:15Okay, 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?
15:39This 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.
15:48So 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.
15:57The post is fine.
15:57And you know who's fault that is?
15:58But it'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.
16:19Especially in special.
16:20But 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.
16:31People 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.
16:45You know what?
16:45There's no place in the law to help you for that.
16:49None whatsoever.
16:50I'm 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
17:04owner of the group also owns.
17:05So the post was up for two days.
17:08Just to be clear, it's my understanding that all of the comments are also removed.
17:12So the comment about him allegedly having been wasted was removed.
17:16Yes, 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.
17:31How long ago did you stop drinking?
17:34I've never had an issue with alcohol.
17:36I've never been in trouble with alcohol.
17:37I stopped drinking in my early 20s.
17:39I'm a limo driver.
17:40I'm a chauffeur.
17:42I'm sorry.
17:42I do have something on October 11th.
17:44Eddie posted in Siesta Key, Hurricane 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.
17:56It's currency.
17:57And I think that we're all okay.
17:59We're going to retire to deliberate at this time.
18:01I go around handing out shots during hurricane parties.
18:02Thank you so much.
18:03We're going to retire to deliberate.
18:05Court now stands in recess.
18:06This case will be recalled.
18:07Parties 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.
18:25So, if he has a grievance, arguably, he should have sued the owner.
18:29Secondly, platforms like this are generally not 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 because they were actually
18:43suggesting content to viewers.
18:44Where the platform is simply receiving information from third parties, there's no liability.
18:49We wouldn't have an internet if we imposed liability under those circumstances.
18:54Thirdly, the content, at least the main post, was true by his own admission.
18:58I know he may think it's not a big deal to show up late when you're picking people up.
19:02I like how he was like, they were just girls going to a bar.
19:04I'm like, girls going to a bar, I need a driver. That's the point.
19:07The comment was ultimately taken down.
19:10He's shown me no evidence of damages.
19:12So, I think that his case fails every which way.
19:15I think it fails on so many levels as well.
19:18And primarily, I didn't find him credible.
19:20He was just throwing things out there to kind of embellish his story.
19:25And the internet is what it is.
19:27And I said it, we all said it.
19:28He should have apologized at the outset.
19:31No good deed goes unpunished.
19:33Why her?
19:34It was because she was the only one in that group that decided to take the time to try to
19:39help him.
19:40And I think, as all of us now know, he's not helpable.
19:43He's beyond help.
19:44And he viewed that almost like a vendetta that she had against him.
19:47I mean, he took that to such an extreme.
19:49I'm glad you reminded us of that point.
19:51Because if she had just ignored him.
19:52Like everybody else.
19:53Like everybody else did, she wouldn't be a defendant in a lawsuit.
19:56No.
19:56I agree with you both.
19:57I think we're unanimous.
19:58Yes.
19:58Okay, we are.
20:03Court is back in session.
20:05I remind parties you're still under oath.
20:07Thank you, Byrd.
20:07We've deliberated and we quickly reached a unanimous verdict.
20:12Mr. Ward, there are so many problems with your lawsuit.
20:15First, we were a little baffled as to why you're choosing to sue this defendant instead of the platform writ
20:21large.
20:21She doesn't own it, and even assuming she did have some individual or personal liability, platforms such as this are
20:28generally not liable for third-party content because people who own platforms want to provide a space where people can
20:36comment about services.
20:38If your theory of liability were to prevail, there would be no Yelp.
20:41There would be no reviews of any kind.
20:43Thirdly, at least part of that content was demonstrably true, regardless of whether or not you think it's not a
20:50big deal to pick up girls when they want a driver to take them to a bar, people who are
20:55hiring you for those services find it quite a big deal.
20:57So Melissa's content was true.
21:00The content regarding your being drunk, we have no way of proving it or disproving it.
21:04It's irrelevant.
21:05And again, even if it's false, not her problem, not her liability.
21:10And finally, sir, you provided absolutely no evidence of damages.
21:14The 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 here
21:28is because you were nice enough to engage with him.
21:31Had you just ignored him like your colleagues did, you wouldn't even be here.
21:35You would just be another anonymous moderator, and he could have had his tantrum online.
21:40The only mistake you made was not bringing a countersuit, because this lawsuit strikes me as vindictive and harassing, and
21:47I'm sorry that you had to deal with it.
21:49Your case is dismissed, sir.
21:51Good luck to you.
21:53Court is now concluded.
21:54Parties are excused.
21:55You may step out.
22:00I do a thousand jobs perfect, and then one, I'm 20 minutes late.
22:03I'm just glad that, you know, they know the truth.
22:06She laughed at me.
22:07No, sir, I felt really bad for the guy, and I just wanted to try to help him if I
22:11could.
22:11And why is some girl I don't even know telling me I have to apologize to people?
22:15He harassed me over and over.
22:16We didn't really touch on that.
22:17Have you ever complained about your Uber driver being late before?
22:20You just get another one.
22:21Are you being sued?
22:23Let Tribunal Justice decide your case.
22:27Find us on social media at Tribunal Justice.
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