Holden Man Who Shot Homeowner During Botched Robbery Is Suing Us For Blogging About His Many Arrests In April 2017
In April of 2017 a blogger who went by the named Feisty Turtle published a story about Marc Aldana, a Holden man who had recently been arrested for shooting someone in their house using an unregistered gun. It wasn’t a popular or widely read blog, and most of you probably don’t remember it. Mr. Aldana has been arrested for a variety of other crimes, yet remains free because our judicial system is broken. This was the basic premise of the blog, and now, two and a half years later, my company is being sued by Mr. Aldana who is representing himself pro se. I explained it all on the live show last night.
Feisty’s blog was probably one of the least offensive and most factual we’ve ever published. Her point was one that most normal people agree on – judges have to stop letting dangerous criminals go free. I won’t rehash the entire complaint, but his biggest issues seems to be with the fact that he was referred to as a “career criminal,” despite being arrested for a variety of crimes in his short time as an adult.
The hate speaks for itself.
As does the chinstrap.
The Worcester Police, Masslive, and Telegram and Gazette all still have their stories up about him. Yet he only sues us because she had the audacity to share opinions about the legal system that allows people like Marc Aldana to remain free.
If you’d like to complaint then watch the video. But there is something very wrong with a
legal system that allows criminals to sue reporters who write about their crimes. It costs the criminals nothing, because they can represent themselves pro se for nothing. But LLC’s are required by law to obtain counsel and that’s expensive. This is now the 6th person who is suing my business, and not a single one of them have an ounce of merit. The Rian Waters lawsuit cost him very little, God knows he has nothing better to do with his time, and when I won I didn’t get money back in return. There is currently no financial risk whatsoever on the part of plaintiffs under the current system, but defendants lose no matter the outcome. This system encourages frivolous lawsuits and is in serious need of reform.
Couple things:
- I’m thinking about dissolving the LLC and not starting a new one. There’s no reason I can’t run a website and share opinions on it. If I get sued over nonsense like this I can defend myself without an attorney. These lawsuits are meritless and the bar for libel is extremely hard to prove.
- The LLC is supposed to protect my personal assets, but I get sued as a party in all these lawsuits anyway so I fail to see the point of it.
- I’ve spent over $25,000 in legal fees alone in the last 6 months. I hire sales guys who talk a big game and then sell nothing. Turtleboy Sports is blacklisted from Google AdSense, so the website that used to bring in $300 a day now brings in $30 a day. The business doesn’t generate enough revenue to sustain legal fees like this. If we regularly sold stuff in the Turtleboy store, or if 500 people signed up for the ad free, I would never have to worry about lawsuits again. But for now that’s not happening. The new website has temporarily kept us afloat, along with all the people who have donated to the Turtle Fund. But that’s no way to run a business.
- I appreciate all the advice and everything, but telling me I’m going to beat this in court or referring me to a lawyer to help fight the lawsuit is a losing mentality. They win when I have to pay my own legal fees for the company. If I could represent myself and beat them, that would be a winning strategy. But the law doesn’t let me do that with a LLC.
- What I really need is to speak with an attorney who can help me figure out a way to do business without having to pay thousands of dollars in legal fees every time I get sued. There has to be a way this can be done. I’m looking for a creative solution.
We need serious tort reform in this state. As of now there is no gamble on the part of plaintiffs, which encourages frivolous lawsuits. But when you file a lawsuit and lose, you should have to pay the court costs. That would make people think twice before wasting the taxpayer’s time and my time with lawsuits like this. I understand the opposing argument that poor people will be discouraged to take on powerful companies that have wronged them, but the fact of the matter is that ANYONE who files a lawsuit in this state cane bring it before a judge. There needs to be a filter before it gets to that level, and it shouldn’t cost a completely innocent defendant thousands of dollars to do so.
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