There is a lot that can be learned from what happened in my tragic true story that I describe in my book “Minority Viewpoint – my experience, as a person of color, with the American Justice System”. When the defamation occurred in March and June of 2016, I felt so harassed and violated that I couldn’t wait to get started with legal action. I think that was a huge, huge mistake. The defamation I endured had a two year statute of limitations during which I could potentially file a lawsuit; meaning I had until spring of 2018 to carefully explore ALL my options. I should have taken the time to learn more about the issues involved and then make a more informed decision about filing the lawsuit.
I also should have talked to as many different lawyers as humanly possible before deciding on any one person to hire. If I had taken the time to talk to 10-20 different lawyers, I might have learned many more things that could have helped me make my decisions. I also could have taken the time to do my own research on defamation cases via reading library books or looking up cases online. That would have made me much more well-prepared to initiate and follow through with the law suit. That would have also allowed me to ask the right questions to dig out the necessary information from my lawyer.
Should you ever find yourself in a similar predicament, I recommend you think hard and research extremely well before deciding to venture down this unpredictable path. Unless you are rich and famous, you should consider a lawsuit to be a windy road with signage stating: “VISIBILITY UNCLEAR AHEAD: PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!”