[tirebird]

The complaint has the name of the defendant and a description of the car.

There is a larger issue here and it has to do with the so-called "new media". A lot of bloggers like to claim they are "citizen journalists". To some extent, that's like saying you're a "citizen surgeon". I'm not saying there are not a lot of good bloggers out there who are careful before they start hitting the keys. But, there are a lot of bloggers who are simply rumor mongers. Rightly or wrongly, on this site and on any other, what you write doesn't go away. If a journalist is repeating rumors and innuendos about individuals or companies without checking the truthfulness of what he/she is writing, then they are exposed for a big lawsuit. The first thing the "citizen journalist" bloggers should have done, in this and many other cases, is to check the facts. Did he ask to speak to the people who claim to have inside information? Did he ask to see the alleged rooms where BJ was storing cars, the secret trucks, the crooked judges and the shill bidders? There's always the best question a journalist knows to ask someone they're interviewing, "how would I know for sure what you're telling me is the truth?".

Some journalists are fond of saying, "there's always two sides to a story". In fact, there may be many sides to a story. What you find out when writing a story is that each answer usually brings more questions. What you also know is that you can't be in a hurry to publish or post your story. Haste not only makes waste, it also makes lawsuits.

That's why this lawsuit is a good thing, not only for the auction industry, but also for all the new journalists out there. If the allegations of impropriety are true in the auction industry, then it will come out in court. The defendant(the Michigan bank), will have it's time in court to present it's evidence including witnesses to the alleged B-J inproprieties. The suppoena, the deposition, the documents, and the testimony will prove or disprove, in this case at least, what's the truth and what's fantasy.

It also is a lesson to all of us to be careful about what we say or write about someone, his car and his business. Unless we know for sure the facts, then there's always some lawyer lurking who's more than willing to make you pay to defend what you said or wrote. Even if you're right, it may cost you a bundle to prove it. One of the laws of slander and libel is that the "truth is the best defense". We have to make sure we're telling the truth.