January 12, 2009 - Threatening Letter

ONE

On Monday, January 12, the woman referred to in the story phoned Gary Richardson to say that he would be included in a lawsuit for his part in taking 'embarrassing pictures' of her during the cruise.

Gary then relayed the message to me. Since this woman has never contacted me directly or through surrogates, this call to Gary marked the first time I had ever heard of her dissatisfaction. Without hesitation, I voluntarily took down the pictures five minutes after Gary's call.

I decided to leave the story up for a simple reason - I felt that I had told the truth.


TWO

On Thursday, January 15, I was sent a certified letter from an attorney threatening to sue me if I left the story up. Here is the attorney's letter:

"January 13, 2009

Richard Archer, I have been retained by Plaintiff to sue you.

She called on me after being informed of content placed on a website www.ssqq.com I have reviewed the photographs and content and have advised her that she has legal claims as a result of these publications. The likeness of the Plaintiff has been appropriated to promote a business venture and the Plaintiff has been damaged as a result.

In addition, the Plaintiff has been defamed. The website credits you with your contribution.

The above-referenced photographs of the Plaintiff were published through January 12, 2009. The written content of the publication continues to be published. This letter will serve as the Plaintiff's formal demand that all content in the website that is related to alleged activities on the cruise in question be removed within three (3) calendar days of the date of this letter."
 

THREE

The lawyer gave me three days to comply. After receiving the letter above, I removed the story on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 1 pm, well within the deadline.

I took the story down for two reasons.

I took it down because our legal system allows people to file lawsuits at little risk to themselves. A good example would be the recent Victoria Osteen trial where she had to spend a small fortune defending herself against the airline stewardess who claimed that Mrs. Osteen had pushed her.

I also took the story down because I was asked to. I had been told the woman in question was now engaged to the SSQQ man that she met on the trip. I assumed at the time they would like to put this incident in the past so I did everything they asked me to do.

In addition I wrote an apology:

"I apologize to the woman in question for any problems my story has caused her and hope this settles the matter to her satisfaction."

When I removed the original story on Friday, I published the lawyer's letter (see above) in its place to explain why the story had been removed.

Shortly after that, the woman then called Gary on the phone and told him she wanted the lawyer's letter taken down as well. Working through her emissary Mr. Richardson - yes, the same man to whom she just sent a letter threatening to sue - our lady called Gary at 2:50 pm on Friday, January 16, to say she was uncomfortable to see that the lawyer's threatening letter sent to me had been posted on this spot.

According to Mr. Richardson, she said, "I guess I will meet with my attorney again soon to see if we can still sue."

So Mr. Richardson - who was included in the lawsuit along with my wife Marla - said he would pass along her message to me. I agreed to accede to her wishes.  So on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 3 pm, upon this woman's request, I voluntarily removed the lawyer's threatening letter as well.

For the record, I have done the following:
1) Voluntarily removed the pictures on Monday, January 12th, 2009. I did so without being threatened.
2) Removed the story on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 1 pm after receiving the certified mail letter from the attorney.
3) Removed the lawyer's letter as well on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 3 pm after receiving the phone call from Mr. Richardson.
4) Voluntarily issued a public apology to the woman for the discomfort my story caused her.

As you can see, I did everything they asked me to do. And they sued me anyway.

First the woman intrudes on my party and now she sues me for having the nerve to complain about it.

March 30, 2009 - The Lawsuit

On Monday, March 30, there was a knock on the door of my home.  When I answered the door,  I was served with a lawsuit.  Here is what it said.

“In December 2008, the Plaintiff was approached by an acquaintance who asked her how she felt about the Intruder story posted on the Internet about her.  When the Plaintiff replied that she was unaware of it, the acquaintance described the site - www.ssqq.com - as promoting Defendant Archer's business, a dance school, and the trips that he and his wife had organized for their dance school clients.  As part of promoting his business, Archer had written and posted a story about the Plaintiff being present on a cruise ship hosting one of his parties.

At her first opportunity, the Plaintiff accessed the website to see for herself what Archer had published about her.  She was stunned and sickened by what she saw.  Archer had written and published, via the Internet, a story and multiple photographs, claiming the Plaintiff had committed the crime of trespass on multiple occasions, and through these false statements, innuendo and implication, portraying her as a sexually promiscuous sociopath.

On the website, Archer included a picture of the Plaintiff kissing one man in the pool (her fiancé) and embracing another man (a long-time platonic friend) on the dance floor.  Archer described her wearing "low-cut dresses" and "monopolizing the attention of practically every man in the room."  He claimed that the Plaintiff "had made quite an impression… at the hot tub" and had "been seen in the arms of several men during the course of the trip."  Therein, Archer falsely attributes her with the quote: "I can have any man I want."

The publication communicates to the reader that the Plaintiff is mentally ill; a sociopath prepared to do anything to get what she wants, conspiring to ruin the trip for others, bragging about her sexual prowess, acting without remorse and displaying a brazen and cavalier attitude as to how it might affect others - classic indicators of Psychopathy.  The collective intent and effect of Archer's publication was to defame her by portraying her as a mentally ill, sexual deviant prone to breaking the law - and to use this salacious portrayal of the Plaintiff to build interest in his business by attracting visitors to his website.

Since first learning what Archer was doing to her, the Plaintiff has been contacted and approached by dozens of people that know her, inquiring as to what she had done to be portrayed in such a manner.   She has been referred to in public by strangers as "the Intruder", and then laughed at.
 

LIBEL AND LIBLE PER SE THROUGH IMPLICATION AND INNUENDO

The Plaintiff repeats each and every Paragraph of the facts as though fully set forth herein.

Defendant Archer published written statements and photographs that referred to the Plaintiff.  Archer published written statements that were defamatory and false that referred to the Plaintiff.  The statements and photographs were intentionally designed to defame the Plaintiff - to portray her through implication and innuendo - as a mentally ill, sexual deviant prone to breaking the law.  As a direct result, the Plaintiff suffered injury.

Archer's statements are libel per se under the common law definition.  Archer's statements injured the Plaintiff in her profession.  Archer's statements injured the Plaintiff in her occupation.  Archer injured the Plaintiff by publishing a statement that imputes sexual misconduct by the Plaintiff.

Due to the nature of Archer's acts, the Plaintiff's damages are presumed.  The Plaintiff suffers damages in an amount within the jurisdictional limits of this Court.  Plaintiff prays that she recover from Archer her presumed damages, statutory damages, general damages, special damages, nominal damages and/or punitive damages, reasonable attorney's fees, expenses, costs of court and all other relief, either general or special, at law or in equity, to which he may be justly entitled, in an amount to be determined by a jury at trial.
 

APPROPRIATION OF NAME OR LIKENESS

Plaintiff repeats each and every Paragraph of the facts as though fully set forth herein.

Defendant Archer appropriated the Plaintiff's image for the value associated with it.   Plaintiff has suffered injury as a result of Archer's appropriation.

Due to Archer's acts, the Plaintiff suffers damages in an amount within the jurisdictional limits of this Court.  Plaintiff prays that she recover from Archer her presumed damages, statutory damages, general damages, special damages, nominal damages and/or punitive damages, reasonable attorney's fees, expenses, costs of court and all other relief, either general or special, at law or in equity, to which he may be justly entitled, in an amount to be determined by a jury at trial.
 

JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff herby demands a jury trial on all issues that can be submitted to a jury.

PRAYER

Plaintiff prays that:

1.            Defendant be cited to appear and answer herein;

2.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for her damages;

3.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for post-judgment interest at the maximum legal rate;

4.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for reasonable attorney's fee and costs of court.

5.            Plaintiff be granted such other and further relief, special or general, legal or equitable, as Plaintiff may show that he is justly entitled to receive.”

Why the Intruder Story was Written

Rick Archer
April 04, 2009

People ask me why I wrote the Intruder Story in the first place.  I wrote the story for one specific reason - on every trip we have people who wish to bypass my wife and book elsewhere, but still think they have the right to include themselves in our group activities.  According to Gary Richardson, this woman knew about our policy, but chose to disregard it.  I originally wrote the story to complain about the woman's lack of courtesy, nothing more. The frequency with which this issue comes up on every trip is so alarming that I feel compelled to make sure our customers know just how upset this behavior makes me. My wife Marla works incredibly hard to put these trips together. To have someone book elsewhere, save $20 or so on some discount, cut Marla out of her commission and then have the nerve to intrude on our private group activities is equivalent to a modern-day slap in my wife's face. In my opinion, that is exactly what this woman has done.  Plus the Intruder added insult to injury by having the nerve to sue us. What kind of man would I be if I didn't stand up for my wife and say "enough is enough"?  I wrote this story so future customers will know I am serious when I say 'join the group or leave us alone'.   You cannot have your cake and eat it too.

HOW THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY TRIES TO BYPASS TRAVEL AGENTS

Over the past several years, the combination of the changing business practices of the cruise industry and the perpetual desire to save $20-$30 on the part of potential cruise customers has created an absolute nightmare for my wife Marla.

I will now review the problem again. Years ago, travel agents used to make a good living booking airline passage for their customers, taking a fee in the process. Somewhere along the line, the airline industry figured out a way to bypass the travel agents and save a buck.

Today the cruise industry is attempting a similar ploy. Once a customer takes a cruise, the cruise line has his or her email.  After the initial cruise, through the use of constant email bombardment, the cruise line begins to send a variety of email discounts directly to the customer regarding future sailings.

The cruise line hopes you will book directly through their web site. This allows the cruise line to bypass the travel agent and save a buck. This practice is legal.  It is also the American Way. Meanwhile, travel agents like Marla get systematically undermined by this practice.  Although the cruise lines think they are saving a dollar or two, in reality they may be shooting themselves in the foot.  The airlines are basically a glorified taxi service.  People would take plane trips whether a travel agent helped them or not.  But the cruise trips are a different story.  Cruise trips are vacations.  People have a wide range of options where to put their money.  A major factor in many decisions is to go where their friends are going!   That is the unique draw of an SSQQ cruise.  Thanks to people like Marla, huge groups are generated for cruise trips because many people enjoy the fun of vacationing with friends.  In 2008, Marla put 200 people on cruise trips.  Marla generated $200,000 in business for these people and look how she gets treated. Do the cruise executives honestly believe their discounts will work anything that even remotely approaches Marla's Cruise Magic?  They say you can save $200, but when all the smoke clears, these discounts save you $20 or $30.  Sure the price is important, but I doubt 200 people are going to line up for these trips simply based on these pie-in-the sky discounts.  More likely it was Marla's track record that puts so many people on these ships.  I doubt seriously the email discounts even begins to match Marla's Pied Piper genius at generating large groups.

Unfortunately, the cruise industry's discount practice is very effective in sowing discord. 

Although Marla negotiates marvelous group discounts for our passengers on each and every cruise, the goobledy-gook in these discount offers confuses everyone. The Internet invites people to do a vast amount of comparison-shopping.  Unfortunately no one can even begin to understand the fine print or factor in the hidden costs these web sites don't bother mentioning.

It is the same thing as buying a car.  Have you ever noticed how difficult it is to compare the price of the same car at two different car dealerships?  At least in my experience, car dealerships have an amazing way of smoke-screening the true price.  In a similar way, the true cost of each cruise trip is very tricky to determine.

Amid all the confusion, potential customers turn to Marla so she can explain their many options.  As a result, Marla spends untold hours replying to phone and email queries asking for explanations. During these discussions, invariably Marla has to answer these kinds of questions - Can I book through someone else (e.g. a discount Internet travel agency, the cruise line directly, or perhaps another travel agency) but still participate in your group activities? Can I still come to your dance classes? Can I at least eat with your group at night? Can I come to your nightly dance sessions?

Last summer (2008) was the all-time worst.  The gas problems were driving people frantic with worry.  The fuel surcharges with the cruise trips made people even crazier.  Each dollar in savings seemed critical.  The 'Bypass Marla' issue came up about three times a week. Three times a week Marla went grey trying to be professional, cordial, and FIRM trying to tactfully say NO without alienating these people. This isn't easy to do, by the way. It is more than or less the same tap dance I go through discussing my favorite issue REFUNDS.  You already know how crazy that makes me.

Try spending 15 minutes on the phone or 15 minutes on the keyboard responding to the constant calls and emails on this same issue. The first time you would be patient. The second time you would be restless. By the third time you would go nuts too. But it didn't stop at three. It happened every day over and over and over again. Marla went slightly crazy trying to defend her turf.  She began to count emails. Thirty emails from this person. Twenty-five emails from that person. Some people were polite, some people were rude, but the sheer volume of people trying to work an edge wore her out.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.  This email disturbed Marla terribly.

From: ANONYMOUS
Date: 04/15/2008 5:38:49 PM
To: marla@ssqq.com
Subject: Cruise in August

"Good Afternoon Marla,

I was looking at the Cruise you are putting together in August but the prices seemed high.

When I went onto the Carnival Cruise site, I found the attached rates. (RA's NOTE: NO RATES WERE ATTACHED)

Also, I know that for every 8 or 10 people that sign up, there is one free cruise for the person putting it together.

Am I mistaking? Is there something added into the price of the cruise for the SSQQ people that is not included in the price listed on the Carnival website? My friend and I would like to go but not if we have to pay more than Joe Nonssqq - hahaha

Kind Regards,

PS - If you search the Internet, MANY of the travel agents are offering $100 per person discount and/or double class upgrades. Certainly SSQQ wouldn't charge their people more just to make a couple of bucks."

This was definitely the ugliest email Marla received, but it is very indicative of the kind of abuse that Marla took.  People were much more aggressive on the phone.

People wanted their $20 discounts!  They seem to overlook the fact that Marla had already negotiated an excellent group discount with all kinds of special benefits included.  All they could see was this new email discount or that cruise website's price seemed to beat Marla's price by $20!  That's important!  Many people invariably begin to argue with her.  If you won't give me this $20 discount, what difference does it make if I book elsewhere?  Can't you make an exception?  Why not?

People did not want to take "NO" for an answer.  Some of these people treated Marla like a human punching bag.  They figured if they peppered her with enough questions, she would give in and tell them what they wanted to hear.

Faced with tantalizing discounts, the temptation to have their cake and eat it too became overwhelming. First people wondered if they could tack on these discounts to Marla's group price.  When they finally accepted that the discounts could not be added to Marla's price, a new thought would enter their mind.  What if they take the discount and bypass Marla, can they still join our group activities whenever they want to?  

Last year, Marla nearly lost her mind trying to sort through all the discount confusion. I am not exaggerating.  At least once a day from the other end of my house I would hear Marla screaming in her office after she hung up the phone. Marla looked at me one day and said, "This isn't fun anymore." 

I nodded in understanding. She was right on the verge of taking the job and shoving it.  This begins to explain why as last year's 2008 Conquest began, both Marla and I were already in a bad mood regarding the neverending headaches caused by the daily struggle of clearing up misconceptions with people over competing price discounts.  Sad to say, no matter what discount these people came up with, it was rarely more than $20 or so below what Marla had advertised. 

I cannot begin to explain how much I wanted to protect her somehow.  I would think to myself, "Please, will you stop beating up my wife?  For crying out loud, it is a lousy 20 bucks!"
 

AN EXAMPLE OF MARLA'S INTEGRITY I want you all to understand something.  I love my wife dearly. Marla is my best friend in the entire world. Besides my obvious affection for her, I admire her and deeply respect her commitment to organizing these trips.  Marla has brought so much happiness to so many people through her efforts on these trips. You may not know this, but Marla works endlessly to make these cruise adventures successful. She gets paid, yes, but you have no idea how much of what she does comes from her heart. She doesn't need the job. Marla does these trips because it is her way to make a contribution to our studio. So it breaks my heart when Marla has to spend so much of her time arguing with people.  Sorry to say, but Marla's deep-seated desire to treat our customers as 'friends' leaves her vulnerable to people who question her honesty.  This kind of remark deeply insults her: "If you search the Internet, MANY of the travel agents are offering $100 per person discount and/or double class upgrades. Certainly SSQQ wouldn't charge their people more just to make a couple of bucks."

Marla is the most honest person I know.  Let me give you a simple example of how Marla operates. Thanks to our crazy 2009 economy, the cruise industry knows it is in a precarious position. The thought has crossed many people's minds that maybe this is the year to skip taking a cruise and tighten the belt instead. So the cruise lines are getting desperate.  They are offering unbelievable price reductions to fill their ships.  Thanks to this economy, that is a real uphill struggle.

In late March 2009 Marla was faced with a deadline. She had sold 60 spots on this year's Conquest trip. Should she ask for an extension on the group discount or fold her hand and let go of the group discount?   At the time, the prices were fluctuating greatly.  Marla was amazed to see that the current prevailing price rate was now actually below the discount she had negotiated four months earlier (normally this price rises!)

This is what Marla did. She renegotiated the passenger rates with Conquest. Marla was able to reduce the rate of every single person ALREADY ON BOARD by $100 to $120 a person. Add it up. 60 times $110. That saved our group that was already on board (and legally committed to the higher price) about $6,600. This also meant that any new person signing up would receive this deduction as well.

In order to do this, Marla sacrificed $1,673 in commissions. There is no way for her to get that money back.  It is gone. Marla did this voluntarily BECAUSE, in her words, IT WAS THE RIGHT THING TO DO.

That doesn't mean the loss of $1,700 didn't sting.  My wife walked around for a day looking like she had just been mugged.  As a friend of mine recently said, he admires how we operate our business like a family, but in his experience it's hard to get rich marketing to family.  Now you see what he meant by that.  Marla sees her passengers as 'friends' and treats them accordingly.  That is why she made this sacrifice.

Neither Marla nor I are saints. We are flesh and blood people who have mounting bills just like everyone else. Nor are we rich. Our studio was hemorrhaging money as recently as December 2008.  The studio lost $30,000 in November and December combined.

So giving back $1,700 after all the cruise argument grief my wife goes through took a big toll on her mind.  Marla does not make that much money on commissions to begin with. Now she had just handed back about 40% of her salary.  You see, the cruise industry does not want its travel agents to renegotiate terms.  At this time they are pulling all sorts of discount shenanigans to lure new customers.  However, they don't like giving money back to passengers they have already booked. So they build in penalties to discourage independent agents Marla from doing exactly what she did.

But Marla did it anyway because it was the right thing to do for her friends.

This was hardly the first time I have seen Marla suffer over her cruise business. After all the arguing and the pettiness, I shudder when I see Marla retreat into one of her "Why do I even bother?" moods.

Marla saved the group $6,600.  I was proud of her for doing this.  But I wasn't prepared for her next move.  Do you know what Marla added after announcing her good news?  "So, please, no whining about the new price and try to keep the grumbling at a dull roar for this cruise."

That statement alone gives you a direct view into her soul.  Marla is still deeply troubled over the abuse she took last summer.  To me, she is like the flower bed that got stomped on by the mob.  Now you understand what I mean when I say I wish to protect her. 
 

2006: TALE OF TWO COUPLES

Marla's main objective is to give her customers the best price she can.  However she is just a 'little guy'.  Marla isn't big enough to dictate to the cruise line what price she thinks is fair.  She has to take whatever offer the cruise line gives her.  Marla understands clearly that she may not be able to beat everyone's price because the big guys have more leverage than she does.  Marla will be the first to admit that large Internet travel agencies occasionally beat her price. It is the same thing as Wal-Mart moving in and underselling all the Mom and Pop small businesses in the area.  There isn't much Marla can do about underselling the world.

However, Marla knows she has something that is priceless - the SSQQ group dynamics.  To some people, the SSQQ group experience is more valuable than all those discounts will ever amount to.  So Marla says this, "If the discount is more important, I understand.  However, please understand that the price of admission to the Group is to book through me."  I am pleased to say that when people make their choice, the vast majority choose to go with Marla.  And those who don't either don't go at all or they leave us alone on the trip.  However, in 2006, something happened that startled both Marla and me.  Two different couples asked point-blank to join our group even though they did not want to use Marla as their agent.  Would she mind if they joined our group? Marla was fit to be tied. The first problem began when a couple signed up through the Continental OnePass program for the New England trip.  As frequent fliers, they liked the idea that they could book their cruise through Continental and receive valuable extra miles in the process.   As you can see from the chart, by going into Continental OnePass on the Internet and signing up for our 7-day cruise, this couple would receive 3,000 miles credited to their account.   Would Marla mind if they bypassed her? "Air Mile" programs are yet another headache for Marla.  Here is an example.

-------Original Message------- From: k Date: 9/8/2006 12:46:46 PM To: marla@ssqq.com Subject: air miles credit for cruise I just found out that I may get air miles credit on my Continental OnePass account for the caribbean cruise we just made if the cruise was booked "on-line". Do you know whether I can get this, since this booking was done on a group-basis? I suspect not, but wanted to check with you to accumulate what I can. Thanks. by the way, we both enjoyed the cruise very much.  Thank you for organizing it.   From: Marla Archer Date: 09/10/2006 10:51:41 AM To: k Subject: Re: air miles credit for cruise Sorry, but the only "air miles" credit you can receive are those linked to the credit card you paid with. Hopefully, all the benefits of cruising with the group offset the air miles perk offered by on-line booking. I am glad you and C enjoyed the cruise. It was fun watching the two of you dance! Marla Archer SSQQ Dance Studio

This story had a happy ending.  After Marla explained the rules, the "air miles" couple changed their mind.  They had originally met at an SSQQ New Year's Party.  They began to date and eventually married.  They decided they wanted to be part of the group more than they wanted to earn the extra miles, so they canceled their original booking and signed up with Marla directly. 

No sooner had Marla finished dealing with the Air Miles couple, she was hit with another dilemma.  This couple had not booked yet, but wanted to use a significant Royal Caribbean discount.  As frequent RCCL cruisers, this offer meant they could book this New England cruise for a rate under what Marla was charging. What made this particular cruise attractive to them was the presence of four close friends who were already booked on our trip. 

This couple really wanted to join their friends.  In addition, this couple really wanted their discount too.  However, their friends knew our rules and said Marla was unlikely to approve.  Why not ask anyway?

Marla stuck to her guns.  She said she could not match this offer.  If they wanted to join our group, they would still have to sign up with her to join us for dinner and the other activities.  Marla never heard from them again.

Lo and behold, this same couple showed up on our New England cruise.  Not only did they show up for several activities, they had the nerve to get someone to seat them in our group!  I was furious and so was Marla. It turned out they booked directly through Royal Caribbean and used points from a credit card.  Then to add insult to injury, they talked the Royal Caribbean booking agent in seating them with us to boot!   They had gone behind our backs to set things up in their own favor.

This incident marked the first time that someone had booked elsewhere and then deliberately disregarded our request to leave us alone. (Full story: 2006 New England Cruise)

Marla and I talked about it.  She said as the discounts increased, more and more people were asking for permission to bypass her, but still wanted join the group.  Now we had a couple that had specifically been told "No", but forced themselves into our group regardless.  How were we supposed to hold our ground?

I decided the only way to fight the problem was to document it.   I felt that if we educated our group to the seriousness of the problem, maybe they would understand that some things are more important than money (or air miles). 

Although the New England incident was the most serious problem to date, these problems go all the way back to 2003 (the first year that Marla began organizing the trips).  Over the years, we have had 8 incidents in 11 trips.  You don't believe me?  I have documented these incidents, so go read for yourself.   Travel Rules
 

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE Given this pretext, hopefully our readers understand why Marla and I believe we have no choice but to take a firm stand against people who Intrude.  This is the only defense we have against the discounts. One of the tough lessons in life is learning that when you have something good, someone is going to come along and try to take it from you.  This will happen again and again until you figure out how to protect yourself.  Nothing is more pitiful than to give a kid a new bike for Christmas only to have some tough guy knock him off and take it away.  For that matter, back in the Eighties, ghetto kids were actually beaten and some even murdered for their shoes when the Air Jordan basketball shoes became the rage.  It is the Law of the Jungle - the weak are prey to the strong.  It is a "dog eat dog" world.  In life, there are bullies everywhere.  There are people without a conscience who will exploit you if you let them. At first glance, a cruise trip is hardly the place you would expect to look for the Law of the Jungle, but experience has shown - 40 pages worth - there are plenty of people who will sell us out for the almighty $20 discount, then show up on our door step when the cruise begins.  But if we are so dead set against people trying to join our group without booking through Marla, then why does it keep happening?  Why is it that Intruders like "Marilyn" seem to appear on practically every trip?  The answer for some is clear - they don't care about us and they don't think their actions will have any consequences.

Why do I write these stories? 

I write stories about incidents so our customers know that when I post a "Rule", I mean to stick to it.  In my opinion, "Documentation" is the surest way to convince my studio's customers that I don't make this stuff up.

The problem of "Intruders" is a serious business problem for us.  What other civilized deterrent do we have other than Documentation?   We are fed up with people who ask to be included in our activities without having to pay the price (which is a REASONABLE PRICE by the way. There is NO MARKUP!)

There is no way to force newcomers to show loyalty to Marla.  None.  All we can do is be on the lookout for people who try to join the party without an invitation and ask them politely to leave us alone.  If they leave, there is no story.  If they refuse to leave us alone, then we write the story.  What other defense do we have?

Here is a quick recap of the Intruder Scenario:

In the summer of 2008, two attractive women came to our first-night cocktail party who were not members of our group. Their appearance struck a nerve in Marla, no question about it. She was too upset herself to deal with it. Marla asked me to say something to these two women.

When I confronted the two women, I told them they were welcome to stay for the remainder of the party. At the time, I did not wish to embarrass them in front of any friends they might have in our group. I then asked them politely to refrain from joining any further SSQQ group activities for the remainder of the trip. And then I walked away.

One of the two women was never seen again, a gesture I appreciated. There has never been a story about this woman.  If the Intruder had done the same thing, there would have been no story about her either. The matter would have been closed.

The Intruder, however, came to our late night dancing activities TWO NIGHTS IN A ROW after I asked her not to. She danced the night away with the men in our group while our legitimate female guests were left twiddling their thumbs on the couches waiting for someone to dance with.  How do you suppose they would have felt if they had known this woman was an Intruder?   Take a quick guess.  In case you can't figure it out, maybe they will get to give their testimony some day.

This late-night party, incidentally, had a sign on at the front door that read "private party".  The sign meant nothing to her.  My words meant nothing to her.  That is when I gave her the nickname "Intruder". 

DEFINITION OF 'INTRUDER'

"To put or force one's way in inappropriately, especially without invitation, fitness, or permission. A person who enters a place without permission. "
"To come in rudely or inappropriately; enter as an improper or unwanted element."


SUMMARY

So how would you stop people from crashing a party?  I mean, I could have called ship security, but I thought that was a bit harsh.  

In my case, I tried being polite.  I told both women they were welcome stay and finish out the cocktail party in grace.  I invited them to finish their complimentary glasses of wine, dance or talk with whomever they wished.  Just don't come back any more. I added the magic word "Please".

So did my request work?  Well, it did with one woman, but not the other.  Indeed, this second woman weaved her way in and out of our group activities for the rest of the week. She became the major topic among our group every night at dinner.

Someone suggested I wrote a story. How else would we make it clear for future cruises that we don't appreciate people forcing their way in?

When the trip was over, I did indeed write the story. I added nine pictures of the woman engaged in activities involving the SSQQ group.

One person who read my story asked me why I had published so many pictures of this woman.  I explained that I wanted to show that wherever we went, there she was.  We did not go out of our way to take frequent pictures of her. We didn't have to go out of our way. She came to us.

I might add the woman was smiling in those pictures. The last time I checked, a smile indicates permission. I am sure her lawyer will argue with me about that.  Let me add, when I found the woman objected to the use of the pictures, I immediately took them down.  Unlike some people, I understand the meaning of the word "NO".

I was also asked why I had written such an extensive story about the woman.

I told the story for this reason - Our past cruises have been plagued with a problem of people who try to join our group activities without bothering to sign up for the cruise directly through my wife Marla. The purpose of the story was to express our exasperation with this continuing problem. 

How else do I educate our customers unless I document the problem? 

I had no desire to hurt this woman nor do I wish to hurt her now.  Please note I have never once published the name of the woman involved.  No Google Search will ever connect the Intruder to this story. 

In conclusion, I wrote the story to help deal with this ongoing business problem.  This story was not personal; it was business.  My Intruder Story was meant to illustrate how serious this problem continues to be for my wife. 

It was my hope if I explained the problem thoroughly, in the future we wouldn't have to go through this again.

Ultimately I wrote the Intruder Story to demonstrate the woman's lack of courtesy, nothing more.  I wrote this story to stick up for my wife.

It has always been my understanding that if I don't stick up for myself then people are likely to continue to walk on both of us. 

Aren't we getting carried away here?   First this woman barges into our party, then she ignores our requests to leave us alone for the remainder of the trip.  I turn around and exercise my legitimate right to complain about someone who forced their way into our group. The woman doesn't like the story so she sues me. 

Where have I heard this before?  This lawsuit reminds me of the burglar who breaks into your home, gets bit by the dog, and decides to sue you for dog bite.

I apologize to this woman if I hurt her feelings with this story.  Nevertheless at some point she needs to accept responsibility for her own actions.  In the process, she might consider apologizing to my wife.  She might also consider apologizing to Gary Richardson, a man who was guilty of nothing more than trying to be a friend to her.  And finally, she might also consider apologizing to the women in our group who were forced to sit on the couch waiting for the chance to dance because she monopolized the attention of the men in our group.

The Intruder may just get the chance to apologize to all of these people.  If she is stupid enough to continue this train wreck of a lawsuit, the whole group will be waiting for her at the trial to hear her testimony.  It should be quite a show.

Letters and Comments on the Intruder Story
 

LETTER ONE

From: Adriana
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:09 AM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: Your description of the Cruise/travel agent business

Hi Rick,

Wow! You just described, in a very human way, how today's Travel Agency operates. Plus we deal not only with Carnival but with the whole array of Vendors who direct market to the client's e-mails and addresses that we have to provide to them and their accounting!

On top of that we try to solve all these problems they create - taking reduced commissions after re-faring what started out like a nice booking. The cruise lines just want to get people on-board their ships - revenue comes from on-board spending . We'll never see a penny of that .

Cruising is fun and it's great what you are doing since your business is tied to people bonding and having a good time but yes, what is your hourly rate, stomach upsets and the point of getting sued.

Grr, Best of luck with this!

Marla's problems are very much par for the course and are multiplied exponentially for us in the Travel Profession on a daily basis because we deal with Vendors and economic situations and banking all over the world.

On the other hand - that is what a Travel Agent does! To solve the problems and make it "easy" for the client.

To give the clients the best - take them thru the maize and make things go seamless and as pleasant as possible therefore ---
A good client is a client committed to the relationship!!!

Yes, I remember reading the original Intruder article. Yes, you may print my letter. You may use my name and state our relationship and how we started it all.

Best wishes!
Adriana Breidenstein -
Universal Travel
 

(RICK ARCHER'S NOTE: Adriana Breidenstein, a former SSQQ dance student, is the woman who helped Marla and I get started in the cruise business back in 2003. I am grateful to her for the opportunity she gave us.)
 

LETTER TWO

From: K
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 6:32 AM
To: Rick Archer
Subject: Intruder Alert

Hi Rick,

Every time I read your stories about The Intruder, I get more pi$$ed off.

Neither I nor XX was on that cruise, but we do intend to be on one in the future, if Marla is able to keep putting up with a$$holes like that.

I would only hope that once you find a decent (oxymoron?) lawyer, that you ask the judge and jury to make The Intruder pay all of YOUR court costs and legal fees.

I don't see how she can win this case, as you have apparently told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in your stories.

You and Marla hang in there, we're pulling for you.
 

LETTER THREE

----- Original Message -----
From: K
To: Marla
Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 5:56 PM
Subject: Libel Suit

Hi Marla,

I am an attorney that takes regular classes at SSQQ.

I have just finished reading the story about that woman that has crashed the SSQQ parties. I am not sure how she has a case.

The definition of libel is "written language that is false and that damages the reputation of another person". Obviously this woman was not an invitee so the information is not false that she was a party crasher. Her defense to libel is to prove that it was false, ie. she was not crashing.

Furthermore, what kind of a reputation did she have before the story? This opens her up to all kinds of investigation into her reputation.  I would hazard a guess that by the way she was acting, it is not great.

It would be hard to give advice without reading the actual pleadings, but I hope you do not lose too much more sleep over this. Libel is very hard to win. She has to show actual damages. You might also have first amendment protection, based on journalistic publication of this regular newsletter.

I do not handle libel cases so I would not want to mislead anyone. This is not my area of law and these thoughts are only my opinion.

I can not believe a lawyer took this case. The case law in this area is pretty clear on how to prove a libel case and the facts are just not on her side.

Good luck with this case, you have a strong defense.

 

LETTER FOUR

From: C
Sent: Monday, April 13, 2009 2:08 PM
To: Rick Archer
Subject: sue happy.. contradiction of terms

Rick. Yes the world is "sue happy" …yet another contradiction of terms.

Here's what happened to a co-worker of mine sometime in the 80's. He was also a preacher at a small non-denominational country church. He got a paternity suit in the mail one day asking if he would verify his SS# that he was the correct target…and he laughed it off and threw it away as some scam to get his identity stolen.

In no time at all, he was hit with summons, photographs of the child, details etc. His lawyer showed him that this was the 6th or 7th preacher that this lady had sued and she almost always settled out of court. That way it doesn't get publicized and all gets swept under the carpet with less embarrassment.

She always picked "other race" pastors to trump up her embarrassment factor. She essentially used the court system to blackmail pastor after pastor, but he want going to let her do that to him. He had a vasectomy about 5 years before the birth of the child, but it still cost him thousands of dollars to get those facts under the nose of the person who could see this for what it was and throw it out.

And the fact that this lady was obviously making her living doing this is particularly irritating. Stories like this, and your story are the kind that give our legal system a miserably bad name. I hate to see any system that so readily jumps to the aid of narcissistic leaches.

 

THE INTRUDER SUES RICK ARCHER

FORWARD

On Monday, March 30, I was served here at my home with a libel suit in response to the story I wrote about the woman who crashed our party on last year's Conquest 2008 dance cruise.  After I asked her to leave us alone, she then proceeded to weave her way in and out of our activities for the remainder of the week.  

I originally wrote the story for a specific reason - on every trip we have people who bypass Marla and book elsewhere, but wish to still be included in our group activities. 

The frequency with which this issue comes up on every trip is so alarming that I feel compelled to make sure our customers know just how upset this practice makes me.  My wife Marla works incredibly hard to put these trips together.  To have someone book elsewhere, save $20 or so on some discount, cut Marla out of her commission and then have the nerve to intrude on our private group activities is equivalent to a modern-day slap in the face of my wife.

In my opinion, that is exactly what this woman did.

What kind of man would I be if I didn't stand up for my wife and say enough is enough?  

BACKGROUND

Over the past several years, the combination of the changing business practices of the cruise industry and the perpetual desire to save $20-$30 on the part of potential cruise customers has created an absolute nightmare for my wife Marla. 

I will now review the problem again.   Years ago, travel agents used to make a good living booking airline passage for their customers, taking a fee in the process.  Somewhere along the line, the airline industry figured out a way to bypass the travel agents and save a buck.

Today the cruise industry is attempting a similar ploy. Once a customer takes a cruise, the cruise line has his or her email.  Through the use of constant email bombardment, after the initial cruise, the cruise line begins to send a variety of email discounts directly to the customer regarding future sailings.  The cruise line hopes you will book directly through their web site.   This allows the cruise business to bypass the travel agent. 

This practice is legal.  It is also the American Way.  Let me add this practice is very effective in sowing discord.  Although Marla negotiates marvelous group discounts for our passengers on each and every cruise, the goobledy-gook in these discount offers confuses everyone.   The Internet invites people to do a vast amount of comparison-shopping.  Unfortunately no one can even begin to understand the fine print or factor in the costs these web sites don't bother mentioning.  Faced with tantalizing discounts, the temptation to have your cake and eat it too becomes overwhelming.   People wonder if they can apply these discounts to Marla's group price.  When they find out they can't, a new thought enters their mind.  If they take the discount and bypass Marla, can they still join our group activities whenever they want to?

They turn to Marla so she can explain their many options.  As a result, Marla spends untold hours replying to phone and email queries asking for explanations.  Last year, Marla nearly lost her mind trying to sort through all the discount confusion.  I am not exaggerating.   Marla looked at me one day and said, "This isn't fun anymore."  I nodded in understanding.  She was right on the verge of taking the job and shoving it.

I openly admit that as last year's 2008 Conquest began, both Marla and I were already in a bad mood regarding the neverending headaches from trying to clear up misconceptions with people over competing price discounts.   Sad to say, no matter what discount they came up with, it was rarely more than $20 or so below what Marla had advertised. 

During these discussions, invariably Marla had to answer one question in particular - Can I book through someone else (e.g. a discount Internet travel agency, the cruise line directly, or perhaps another travel agency) but still participate in your group activities?   Can I still come to your dance classes?  Can I at least eat with your group at night?   Can I come to your nightly dance sessions? 

This issue came up about three times a week.  And three times a week Marla went grey trying to be professional, cordial, and FIRM while trying to tactfully say NO without alienating these people.  This isn't easy, by the way.  It is more than or less the same tap dance I go through discussing my favorite issue REFUNDS and you already know how crazy that makes me.  

People want their $20 discounts.  This is important to them!  So they would invariably begin to argue with her.  What difference does it make if I book elsewhere?  Can't you make an exception?  Why not? 

Try spending 15 minutes on the phone or 15 minutes on the keyboard responding to the constant calls and emails on this issue.  The first time you would be patient.  The second time you would be restless.  By the third time you would go nuts too.  But it didn't stop at three.  It happened every day over and over and over again.  Marla went slightly crazy trying to defend her turf.  She began to count emails.  Thirty emails from this person.  Twenty-five emails from that person.   Some people were polite, some people were rude, but the sheer volume of people trying to work an edge wore her out.

At least once a day from the other end of my house I would hear Marla screaming in her office after she hung up the phone.  I cannot begin to explain how much I wanted to protect her somehow.

I want you all to understand something.  I love my wife dearly.  Marla is my best friend in the entire world.   Besides my obvious affection for her, I admire her and deeply respect her commitment to organizing these trips.  You may not know this, but Marla works endlessly to make these trips successful.  She gets paid, yes, but you have no idea how much of what she does comes from her heart.  She doesn't need the job.  Marla does these trips as her way to make a contribution to our studio.  

Let me give you a simple example.  Thanks to our crazy economy, the cruise industry knows it is in a precarious position.  The thought has crossed many people's minds that maybe this is the year to skip taking a cruise and tighten the belt.   So the cruise lines are getting desperate.  They are offering unbelievable price reductions to fill their ships despite the economy. 

A week ago Marla was faced with a deadline.  She had sold 60 spots on this year's trip.  Should she ask for an extension on the group discount or fold her hand and let go of the discount?   At the time, the prices were fluctuating so greatly that current prevailing price rate was now actually below the discount she had negotiated four months earlier (normally this price rises!)

This is what Marla did.  She renegotiated the passenger rates with Conquest.   Marla was able to reduce the rate of every single person ALREADY ON BOARD by $100 to $120 a person.   Add it up.  60 times $110.  That saved our group that was already on board (and legally committed to the higher price) about $6,600.  This also meant that any new person signing up would receive this deduction as well.

In order to do this, Marla sacrificed $1,673 in commissions.   There is no way for her to get that money back.  It is gone.  Marla did this voluntarily BECAUSE, in her words, it was the right thing to do. 

That doesn't mean the loss of $1,700 didn't sting.  My wife walked around for a day looking like she had just been mugged.  As a friend of mine recently said, he admires how we operate our business like a family, but in his experience it's hard to get rich marketing to family.  No kidding. 

Neither Marla nor I are saints.  We are flesh and blood people who have bills just like everyone else.  Nor are we rich.  Our studio was hemorrhaging money as recently as December.  So giving back $1,700 after all the grief my wife goes through took a big toll on her mind.   Marla does not make that much money on commissions to begin with.  Now she had just handed back about 40% of her salary.  You see, the cruise industry does not want its travel agents to renegotiate terms.   While they are pulling their discount shenanigans to lure new customers, they don't like giving money back to passengers they have already booked.  So they build in penalties to discourage independent agents Marla from doing exactly what she did.  But Marla did it anyway because it was the right thing to do for her friends.

This was hardly the first time I have seen Marla suffer over her cruise business.  After all the arguing and the pettiness, I shudder when I see Marla retreat into one of her "Why do I even bother?" moods.  

Marla saved the group $6,600.  Do you know what she added after announcing her good news?  "So, please, no whining about the new price and try to keep the grumbling at a dull roar for this cruise."

This is what I am talking about.  Marla gets aggravated all the time.  But nothing upsets her more than seeing people book elsewhere, and then magically show up on the ship.  Yes, it is true.  No matter what Marla says, people still try to bypass her.   They sign up for the cruises elsewhere, and then show up for some of our activities just like the Intruder did.

I have been fighting this problem now for seven years!   I estimate we have had at least one incident on half the cruise trips we have taken.   You don't believe me?   I have documented these incidents.  Go read for yourself.

http://www.ssqq.com/travel/rules.htm#BOOK

Why do I write these stories?   I write stories about incidents so my customers know that when I say something, I mean it.  In my opinion, "Documentation" is the surest way to convince my studio's customers that I don't make this stuff up.   

The problem of "Intruders" is a serious business problem for us.  We are fed up with people who ask to be included in our activities without having to pay the price (which is a REASONABLE PRICE by the way.  There is NO MARKUP!)

There is no way to force newcomers to show loyalty to Marla.  None.  All we can do is be on the lookout for people who try to join the party without an invitation.  It is our only defense.

Given this context, perhaps it makes sense that both Marla and I were up in arms last summer when two attractive women came to our first-night cocktail party.  They were not members of our group.  Their appearance struck a nerve in Marla, no question about it.  She was too upset herself to deal with it. Marla asked me to say something to these two women. 

When I confronted the two women, I told them they were welcome to stay for the remainder of the party.  At the time, I did not wish to embarrass them in front of any friends they might have in our group.  I then asked them politely to refrain from joining any further SSQQ group activities for the remainder of the trip.  And then I walked away. 

One of the two women was never seen again, a gesture I appreciated.  If the other woman had done the same thing, there would have been no story.  The matter would have been closed.   The other woman, however, came to our late night dancing activities after I asked her not to.  The Intruder danced the night away with the men in our group while our legitimate female guests twiddled their thumbs sitting on the couches waiting for someone to dance with.  This late-night party, incidentally, had a sign on at the front door that read "private party".   Her actions showed that my earlier request at the cocktail party meant nothing to her.   That is when I gave her the nickname "Intruder".

DEFINITION OF 'INTRUDER'

"To put or force one's way in inappropriately, especially without invitation, fitness, or permission.  A person who enters a place without permission. "

"To come in rudely or inappropriately; enter as an improper or unwanted element."

HOW DO I DEAL WITH THIS PROBLEM?

So how do you stop people from crashing a party?   We are all civilized, right?  

In my case, I tried being polite.  I told both women they could stay. I invited them to finish their complimentary glasses of wine, dance or talk with whomever they please and finish out the party in grace.  Just don't come back any more.  I added the magic word "Please".

So did my request work?  Well, it did with one woman, but not the other. 

Indeed, this woman weaved her way in and out of our group activities for the rest of the week.  She became the major topic among our group every night at dinner. 

Someone suggested I wrote a story.  How else would we make it clear for future cruises that we don't appreciate people forcing their way in?

When the trip was over, I did indeed write the story.  I added a dozen or so pictures.

One person who read my story asked me why I had published so many pictures of this woman.  I explained that I wanted to show that wherever we went, there she was.  We did not go out of our way to take frequent pictures of her.   We didn't have to go out of our way.   She came to us.

I might add the woman was smiling in those pictures.  The last time I checked, a smile indicates permission.  I am sure her lawyer will argue with me about that.

I was also asked why I had written such an extensive story about the woman.

I told the story for this reason - Our past cruises have been plagued with a problem of people who try to join our group activities without bothering to sign up for the cruise directly through my wife Marla.  The purpose of the story was to express our exasperation with this continuing problem.   How do I educate our customers unless I document the problem?  

Mind you, I never published the name of the woman involved.  I had no desire to hurt her.  I wrote the story because we have an ongoing business problem.  My story illustrated how serious this problem continues to be.  It was my hope if I explained the problem thoroughly, we wouldn't have to go through this again. 

I wrote the Intruder Story for one purpose and one purpose only - I wanted to explain to all future customers that we are business people who understand that everyone has the right to book their cruise any way they choose.  But if you don't wish to use my wife to book your trip, then please don't intrude upon our group's activities. 

EARLIER STATUS OF THE LAW SUIT

I do not wish for this law suit to go to court.  I have much better things to do with my time and my money.  Mind you, I have never once published the name of the woman involved. 

Here is a review of the interaction between myself, the Plaintiff and her lawyer to date.

ONE

On Monday, January 12, 2009, the woman referred to in the story phoned Gary Richardson to say that he would be included in a lawsuit for his part in taking 'embarrassing pictures' of her during the cruise.

Gary then relayed the message to me.  Since this woman has never contacted me directly or through surrogates, this call to Gary marked the first time I had ever heard of her dissatisfaction.  Without hesitation, I voluntarily took down the pictures five minutes after Gary's call.   

I decided to leave the story up for a simple reason - I felt that I had told the truth. 

TWO

On Thursday, January 15, I was sent a certified letter from an attorney threatening to sue me if I left the story up.   Here is the letter:

 "January 13, 2009

Richard, Archer, I have been retained by Plaintiff to sue you.

She called on me after being informed of content placed on a website www.ssqq.com   I have reviewed the photographs and content and have advised her that she has legal claims as a result of these publications.   The likeness of the Plaintiff has been appropriated to promote a business venture and the Plaintiff has been damaged as a result.

In addition, the Plaintiff has been defamed.   The website credits you with your contribution. 

The above-referenced photographs of the Plaintiff were published through January 12, 2009.  The written content of the publication continues to be published.  This letter will serve as the Plaintiff's formal demand that all content in the website that is related to alleged activities on the cruise in question be removed within three (3) calendar days of the date of this letter."

At that time I showed respect for the attorney's request and took the story down.  I did so for two reasons.   I took it down because our legal system allows people to file lawsuits at little risk to themselves.  A good example would be the recent Victoria Osteen trial where she had to spend a small fortune defending herself against the airline stewardess who claimed that Mrs. Osteen had pushed her. 

I also took the story down because I was asked to.  I have been told the woman in question is now engaged to an SSQQ man that she met on the trip.  I assumed at the time they would like to put this incident in the past so I did everything they asked me to do.

In addition I wrote an apology:

"I apologize to the woman in question for any problems my story has caused her and hope this settles the matter to her satisfaction."

THREE

The lawyer gave me three days to comply.  After receiving the letter above, I removed the story on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 1 pm, well within the deadline.  

I published the lawyer's letter in its place. 

Shortly after that, the woman then called Gary on the phone and told him she wanted the lawyer's letter taken down as well.   Working through her emissary Mr. Richardson - yes, the same man to whom she just sent a letter threatening to sue - our lady called Gary at 2:50 pm on Friday, January 16, to say she was uncomfortable to see that the lawyer's threatening letter sent to me had been posted on this spot.  According to Mr. Richardson, she said, "I guess I will meet with my attorney again soon to see if we can still sue." 

So Mr. Richardson - who was included in the lawsuit along with my wife Marla - said he would pass along her message to me.  I agreed to accede to her wishes. 

So on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 3 pm, upon this woman's request, I voluntarily removed the lawyer's threatening letter as well. 

For the record, I have done the following:

1)  Voluntarily removed the pictures on Monday, January 12th, 2009.  I did so without being threatened.

2)  Removed the story on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 1 pm after receiving the certified mail letter from the attorney.

3)  Voluntarily removed the lawyer's letter as well on Friday, January 16th, 2009, at 3 pm after receiving the phone call from Mr. Richardson.

4)  Voluntarily issued a public apology.

As you can see, I did everything they asked me to do.  And they sued me anyway.  First the woman intrudes on my party and now she sues me for having the nerve to complain about it.

TODAY'S STATUS OF THE LAWSUIT

This is where we stand today Friday, April 03, 2009. 

I will need help fighting this lawsuit. 

One, I do not have a lawyer.  I am hoping that a lawyer from within our community will offer to defend me.  Of course I will pay him or her. 

Two, I hope some of the passengers from last year's cruise will testify in my behalf. 

Three, I hope this lady will come to her senses.  This is not a matter worth suing over. 

Four, next week I will publish a copy of the lawyer's lawsuit.  It is very interesting reading.  In addition I will probably republish the original Intruder story so you can read again what all the fuss is about.

REVISITED FROM LAST WEEK:  THE INTRUDER SUES RICK ARCHER

THE DEFINITION OF 'INTRUDER'

"To put or force one's way in inappropriately, especially without invitation, fitness, or permission.  A person who enters a place without permission. "

"To come in rudely or inappropriately; enter as an improper or unwanted element."

In last week's Newsletter, I reported that I was being sued for libel suit in response to the story I wrote about the woman who crashed our cocktail party on last year's Conquest 2008 dance cruise. 

This woman's behavior definitely hit a nerve.   Before every cruise, we have inquiries people who wish to bypass Marla and book elsewhere, but ask permission to still be included in our group activities.  Even though Marla always says "no", her message doesn't always seem to work.  Indeed, we have had incidents on 8 of our 14 previous cruises where people tried to participate anyway. 

In last week's issue, I wrote about how the cruise industry is trying to cut the Travel Agent out of the middle. 

Thanks in large part to aggressive direct discounting on the part of the cruise industry, all SSQQ cruise guests (including myself) are sent one or two emails a week from the cruise lines offering "special one-time only bargains."  These bargains can only be achieved if you sign up directly through the cruise line. 

In last week's issue, I explained the incredible headaches that Marla has incurred defending her turf against the barrage of discounts.   Over the past several years, the combination of the changing business practices of the cruise industry and the perpetual desire to save $20-$30 on the part of potential cruise customers has created an absolute nightmare for my wife Marla. 

One woman, Adriana Breidenstein, who is a travel agent herself, wrote to comment on my explanation of the cruise industry's attempts to force out Travel Agents.   Adriana, a former SSQQ dance student, is the woman who helped Marla and I get started in the cruise business back in 2003.

From: Adriana
Sent: Tuesday, April 07, 2009 10:09 AM
To: dance@ssqq.com
Subject: Your description of the Cruise/travelagent busienss

Hi Rick,

Wow!  You just described, in a very human way, how today's Travel Agency operates. Plus we deal not only with Carnival but with the whole array of Vendors who direct market  to the client's e-mails and addresses that we have to provide to them and their accounting !

On top of that we try to solve all these problems they create -  taking reduced commissions after re-faring what  started out like a nice booking. The cruise lines just  want to get people on-board their ships -  revenue comes from on-board  spending .  We'll never see a penny of that .   

Cruising is fun and it's great what you are doing since your business is tied to people bonding and having a good time but yes, what is your hourly rate, stomach upsets  and the point of getting sued.  Grr, Best of luck with this!   

Marla's problems are very much par for the  course and are multiplied exponentially for us in the Travel Profession on a daily basis because we deal with Vendors  and economic situations and banking all over the world. 

On the other hand - that is what a Travelagent does!   To solve the problems and make it "easy" for the client.

To give the clients the best  - take them thru the maize  and make things go seamless and as pleasant as possible therefore ---

 A good client is a client committed to the relationship!!!

Yes, I remember reading the original Intruder article.  Yes, you may print my letter. You may use my name and state our relationship and how we started it all.

Best wishes!
Adriana Breidenstein -
Universal Travel  
.........

These discounts are tempting, to be sure.   Everyone wants to save money.  That's human nature.  But the lure of spending time with the SSQQ group is also there.  As I have documented many times, there is great fun to be had spending time with lots of friends.   In fact, it is the fun of joining the SSQQ group that usually gets people interested in taking each particular cruise in the first place.   The woman who is suing us told Gary Richardson she knew about the SSQQ group before she signed up to take the trip.

If you couldn't care less about rewarding my wife for her work organizing these trips, the perfect solution, of course, is to grab one of those discounts and still find a way to hang with the SSQQ group. 

This would mean bypassing Marla as the agent of record and cutting her out of a commission.  Most people in our group would never dream of doing this.  They are loyal to Marla and appreciate the hard work she puts in organizing these trips. 

But newcomers or people on the periphery of the SSQQ group could care less about Marla.  They want their discounts and they want to see their SSQQ friends too. 

I first encountered this problem during our Jubilee Trip in 2003.  Three women mysteriously showed up at our Cocktail Party on the first night of the trip.  I noticed them out of the corner of my eye.  Since there were 144 people aboard - a record that still stands as of 2006 - quite frankly I had no idea who a lot of these people were.   I got distracted and did not have the opportunity to talk to the three women.  

Later that evening during dinner a couple who were definitely with our group came to me at my table to complain that there was no place to sit at their assigned table.  I asked Marla about the problem.  She told me to inspect their boarding pass ID card to look for which table they were supposed to sit at.  I identified the table and glanced over at it.  By coincidence, the same three women were sitting there plus there was one empty chair.   Hmm, now that's suspicious. 

When the time was right, I asked them what the story was.  Yes, the three ladies signed up elsewhere, but decided to join our group.  And why not?  They read our web site and didn't see any rule that said otherwise.

That is when I realized I had to draw a line in the sand for our future cruises.  You can't have both.  If the discount is that important, fine, but stay away from our group.

The rule has worked for the most part.  Until the 2008 Conquest trip, there have been six minor problems and only one major problem.  

However, no one has ever quite made their presence known to the extent of last year's woman in question.  After I granted this woman permission to remain till the end of the party, I also asked her to leave us alone for the rest of the trip.  To my surprise, this woman proceeded to weave her way in and out of our activities for the remainder of the week. 

Marla and I were upset.  We did not appreciate having her barge in on our activities.  Angered by her refusal to leave us alone, she became a topic of conversation at our dinner table every night for the entire week. 

As we pondered the situation, it was obvious the woman had done nothing illegal.  Intruding on cruise activities may have been rude, but it was no crime.  So what was I supposed to do about the problem?   Ignore it and let it continue?  That didn't make sense.  So I decided to document it.  What other recourse did I have?

When we returned to Houston, I wrote a story about the incident on the website.  No surprise there.  I write a story about everything.   Titling the story "The Intruder", I explained in detail the activities of the woman in question and our response to her.

The woman didn't like the story. 

So she called my friend Gary Richardson, the DJ and our photographer, to complain about the story.  She objected to having her pictures used. 

Over the years, I have published thousands of pictures on my web site.  Once or twice, people have objected to the use of their picture.  The only example I can remember was the woman who became a Christian and no longer wished to have a picture of her in a bathing suit posted.   When she objected, I have removed it. 

So when Gary relayed the message to me, I voluntarily removed her pictures.  All she had to do was complain and the pictures were gone.

I let the story stay.  After all, what I had written was the truth as I knew it. 

A few days after the phone call regarding the pictures, I received a threatening letter from a lawyer.  The lawyer specifically said I had three days to remove all objectionable material including the story.  So I took down the story too and replaced it with the lawyer's letter.  After the woman objected to seeing the lawyer's letter, I removed it as well.   All of these actions were finalized on Friday, January 16^th, in order to comply with the three day limit imposed on me by the lawyer.

On March 30^th, I was served notice that I was being sued.  My question is why did the lawyer tell me what I was supposed to do to avoid a lawsuit, then turn around and sue me anyway?

AMERICAN JUSTICE

There is saying that "American Justice" is an oxymoron along the lines of "Military Intelligence" and "Religious Tolerance".   The wags contend that in a lawsuit there are always two losers.  Only the lawyers win.

Horror stories about lawsuits abound.   For example, who can forget the infamous $67 Million dry cleaner lawsuit from a year ago?

The way our legal system is set up has troubled me for years.  A few years ago, I heard a story here in the Heights where I live that scared me to death.  Some kid climbed a neighbor's fence to use the neighbor's swimming pool.  The neighbors were out of town at the time.  The kid fell from the fence and hurt himself.  The parents sued.  Something about the fence being constructed of sub-standard wood.

When I asked a lawyer about that, she said she doubted the parents would win, but the family still had to defend themselves.

The craziest story I ever heard was about the guy who was drunk and climbed the fence to get into Sea World in Florida.  He climbed into Orca's fish tank and drowned (1999).   His parents sued Sea World.  I saved the news clip:

"The parents of a man found naked and dead on the back of a killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando are suing the marine park, alleging the dangerous orca was portrayed as a huggable stuffed toy, a lawyer for the family said Monday."

The point I am making is that anybody can sue anybody. 

The cost of defending myself will likely run into the thousands of dollars.  Any money that Marla has made over all these years of organizing cruise trips will vaporize in a cloud of smoke. 

The lesson to be learned here is there is no such thing as "free speech" even in America.  

Now I have a question.  What if the plaintiff were responsible for paying the defendant's court costs if the decision went against the plaintiff?   After all, the plaintiff expects me to pay HER LAWYER'S FEES.  Why shouldn't that door swing both ways?

Who in their right mind wants to go through the misery of a lawsuit?  
The effects have been immediate.  Neither Marla nor I can sleep.  We walk around like zombies during the day sick in our stomachs with worry.  I sit and play computer chess all day long because I don't have the enthusiasm to attend to my business.  I just go through the motions at the studio.  Marla and I lose our temper at each other almost daily over the smallest things.  Why?  Because we are incredibly tense.

No one enjoys the thought that all of our hard work is going down the drain to a woman who had the nerve to crash our party and then had the nerve to sue us when we complained about her behavior.

THE ORIGINAL INTRUDER STORY

Now that I am being sued, there is no point in hiding the original Intruder story any longer.  They told me to take the story down, I took it down, and they sued me anyway. 

It is all going to come out in court, so we might as well read the story again and see what she objects to.

One more thing.  If this goes to trial, they will ask me if this is the truth and the whole truth so help me God. 

We don't have to wait for the trial.  Everything I have written below is the truth.  The story is exactly how things happened from my point of view.
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THE INTRUDER

Story written by Rick Archer
September 2008

This is the story about the lady who refused to leave.  I do not know her name.  We called her Marilyn Monroe due to her obvious good looks. I suppose that's as good a name as any.

Marilyn was not part of our group.  Nevertheless she felt entitled to join us whenever she saw fit.  Marilyn not only crashed our private cocktail party on the first night, she continued to join other activities time after time despite being asked not to.

Marilyn was not the first person to ever try to join our group without permission nor will she be the last.  But Marilyn distinguished herself from the pack by her continued presence at our activities despite being told in no uncertain terms that she was not welcome.

I have discussed the issue of "Party Crashing" for on many previous occasions.  In our RULES section, there are 40 pages... repeat... 40 pages of articles and anecdotes related to people who have attempted crash the party over the years.

40 pages of stories and people like Marilyn still try to hitch a ride.  So what good are all those stories?  Good question.

Marilyn - The Woman Who Would Not Leave

On Sunday night, the first night of our trip, heads turned as two attractive blonde women in white dresses graced our Cocktail Party with their presence.  The men's eyes bulged.  Where did these babes come from? 

Marla noticed them fairly quickly.  Actually, everyone in the room noticed them.  The men in our group flocked to the two women instantly.  Soon both women were on the floor dancing.

Finally the women left the floor.  This is when Marla attempted to give the two ladies their name tags.  The other woman was the spokesperson. She informed Marla they were not with our group, but were there at the invitation of one of the men in our group.  Marla frowned and then came to get me.

As the two women sat on the couch, I approached them.  I asked them if they were with our group.  The shorter lady said they were sort of with our group and repeated that one of the men in our group had invited them. 

I pointed out they had no right to be in this room.  No one had the authority to invite them to this party but me or my wife.

Then I said they were welcome to stay for the rest of the party.  But once the party was over, I did not want to see either of them at our dinner tables or at any of our ten group activities scheduled for the rest of the trip.  And that is where I left it.

I allowed the women to stay because I did not see any point in embarrassing them in front of any friends they might have in the room.  Nor did I wish to ruin the party with an ugly scene.  It was better that the women be allowed to leave quietly. 

It is important to note that one of the two women got the message.  After I spoke to her, I never saw her again on the trip.  But Marilyn clearly didn't get the message.  As the week continued, we couldn't get rid of her.

The sad thing is the two women were not in this room by accident.  Members of our own group can be thanked for their presence.  I did not appreciate the poor judgment that led to inviting these two women to our party.

But why would someone invite them there in the first place? 

Beauty does strange things to men.  It makes them go gaga and not think clearly.  The problem was we had at least 20 more women than men.  At the Cocktail Party, the women in our group wanted a chance to dance too.  Instead they were left sitting there twiddling their thumbs while these two outsiders in their low-cut dresses monopolized the attention of practically every available man in the room.  Imagine how our women would have felt if they discovered that Marilyn and friend didn't even belong here!  And what opinion would they have formed of the man who invited these women to be here?

After the Cocktail Party, later that same night Marilyn showed up at Alfred's for our After Hours Dance Party sponsored by Gary Richardson.  Mind you, there was a sign at the entrance that said "Private Party".  Marilyn had crossed the line.  Her presence in the room made it obvious that she had not listened. Perhaps she couldn't read either.

It wasn't until dinner two nights later that I found out that Marilyn had crashed the SSQQ After Hours dance party.  I was livid.  I had extended the courtesy to allow both women to remain at our cocktail party with their dignity intact.  But Marilyn obviously had ignored my warning.  Now what do I do?

By coincidence Joe Lachner left the table for a moment while we were discussing Marilyn's story at the dinner table.  Apparently Marilyn had made quite an impression that day at the hot tub and we wanted to know all the details.  When Joe returned, he reported overhearing a conversation outside the dining room where Marilyn was telling someone she intended to come dance with our group again that night. 

I decided this would be the night I would visit the Late Night Dancing and explore what part of No she couldn't understand.

When I got to Alfred's after midnight, there was no Marilyn to be seen.  It was pretty obvious that several men in our group were waiting for her because I saw them watching the door like hawks and even walk to door on repeated occasions to look out in hallway.  It appeared to me they were being stood up. 

Had someone warned Marilyn I was there?  Perhaps.  Or maybe she just found something else more interesting to do. Marilyn never appeared to lack for attention.

While I was there, I wondered how I was going to solve this problem.  It was fairly obvious the men in our group were part of the problem and definitely not willing to be a part of the solution either. That's when I noticed a row of five women sitting together on a couch opposite me.  Sad to say, they were waiting for a chance to dance because there were more women than men.  I decided to go have a talk with them.

I crossed the floor and pulled up a chair so I could address each lady in the group.  I explained that I had a problem and that I needed their help.  I said there was a woman who had been told to leave us alone, but kept showing up anyway.

All five of the women immediately knew whom I was referring to.  They were surprised to learn that Marilyn was not part of our group.  After all, Marilyn was practically a fixture at our events.

One woman exclaimed, "Of course I know who she is.  That woman has been out on the floor for every song for two nights in a row!  The men make fools of themselves.  They practically knock each other over lining up for the next dance!"

I replied, "Well, good, I am glad you know who I am talking about.  Now I have a favor to ask.  This woman is a major headache. She is the reason that you ladies have to sit while she dances with your men out on the floor.  Do me a favor and come get me the next time she makes an appearance in this room so I can escort her out of here."

The women all agreed they would be more than happy to help.  Now that the cat was out of the bag, the word of Marilyn's activities spread through the group like wildfire.  Soon every woman in our group was keenly aware of Marilyn's antics.  She was a hot topic indeed.

The following evening Marilyn got word that I wasn't at Alfred's and tried to enter the room.  To her surprise, she was immediately met by a reception committee formed by our women.  They told her in no uncertain terms to get lost. 

Unfazed, Marilyn entered the room anyway and walked over to fetch one of the men in our group.  She asked him what time he wanted to get together with her later.  Noticing that she was surrounded by the Get Lost Committee, he said to go outside and wait for him on the steps.  He would be right out.  That got Marilyn to leave the room.  Sure enough, she was spotted waiting on the steps in the hallway.  But the man in question decided to leave her there and go have 2 am pizza with the SSQQ group instead.  Interesting decision.  When was the last time Marilyn came in second to a slice of pizza?

The next day, a very curious thing happened.  Marilyn approached Gary Richardson and asked to speak with him privately.   Marilyn said she was astonished at how mean the people in our group were.  She said that all day long, people from our group had harassed her and treated her badly.

She was very surprised at this kind of reception.  She had expected to fit right in!  After all, didn't our people realize that she had the ability to light up a room whenever she entered? 

Now I suppose you think I am making this up.  I will simply say that Gary's story about his talk with Marilyn was heard by ten different people at our dinner table.

Next Marilyn informed Gary it was too late now.  Marilyn would never dream of joining this nasty group of people on any future cruises!  What a bunch of snobs!

Gary pointed out that her mistake was not signing up with our group in the first place.  To Gary's surprise, that's when Marilyn admitted she knew the "Rules" ahead of time about booking with the group.  Marilyn said that she had called Marla, but since Marla was out of town on our July cruise to Greece, there was no one there to help her.  She didn't want the cruise to sell out; what else could she do but sign up elsewhere? 

Somewhere in the conversation Marilyn changed her story.  According to Gary, when the subject came up again, Marilyn said she had actually spoken to Marla on the phone.  But since Marla had been very rude to her, she had decided not to give us her business (for the record, Marla said she never spoke to this woman). 

This tall tale about Marla undermined the woman's credibility.  Unfortunately, Marilyn tends to fib a bit.  For example, she also told Gary that she and her girl friend never drank anything at our cocktail party.  Not that I care, but I can refute that.  I saw both women with drinks in their hands when I went to confront them.

Gary concluded the conversation by saying it would be better if Marilyn stayed away from the After Hours Dancing. Apparently Marilyn didn't listen to Gary either because later on she attempted to crash the party again. It appeared she was simply looking for someone.  However since the SSQQ Get Lost Committee was giving her the evil eye, she bounced off and moved on.

The following day we heard more bizarre news about Marilyn.  She and an SSQQ gentleman announced that they had just gotten married on board the ship.  I was extremely skeptical.  After all, this was the same man who had chosen pizza over this woman the night before.  Sure enough, it turned out to be some sort of wacko joke.

I had three minor skirmishes with Marilyn on Friday night.  Friday was the night we had our Group Picture taken down in the lobby.  To my surprise, I noticed Marilyn one level above watching our entire proceedings.  So I went upstairs to ask why she refused to leave us alone, but she dodged me.

Later on during dinner the same night, I excused myself when a ship photographer came to our table to take everyone's picture.  Personally, I hate having our dinner conversation interrupted by these rude photographers.  Leave us alone!  But as Marla pointed out to me, not everyone feels the same way I do.  So I left the table for a while rather than lose my temper.

Outside in the hall, to my surprise I ran across the Wedding Couple themselves standing there at the edge of the dining room watching people eat.  I had no idea what they were up to, but decided there was no reason to be uncivilized.

I politely congratulated them on their marriage and said I would like to take their wedding picture.  Just as I began to shoot, as you can see, Marilyn suddenly turned shy.  Now that's a first.

When I went back into the dining room, rather than go straight back to my chair, I made the rounds from table to table making announcements.  When I got back to my table, everyone was staring at me with the funniest looks on their faces.

They asked me why I didn't speak to the infamous Wedding Couple.  What?  I was perplexed.  I had no idea what they were talking about. 

Marla was the first one to figure it out.  She knows that I am blind in my left eye.  Apparently while I had been talking at one of the tables, the Wedding Couple had come up from my blind side.  Then they stood directly behind me for a good five minutes like a pair of ghosts.  Then they left.  Too weird.

I never even knew they were there.  Who knows what they wanted?  In retrospect, it is likely one reason we couldn't get rid of Marilyn was because she had one of our men in her gun sights.  Obviously Marilyn got her man.  More power to her.

PARTING THOUGHTS

So who was Marilyn and why was she so obsessed with our group?  Sorry, but I don't know anything about her. 

And what was up with the Wedding Story?  You might be surprised to learn that Marilyn's eventual "husband" was not the person who originally invited her to the cocktail party. 

Marilyn was reported to have been seen in the arms of several different men during the course of the trip so she obviously had a wide choice of potential husbands. 

So why pick someone from our group?  Someone suggested that the Faux Wedding was perhaps Marilyn's odd way of putting the SSQQ group in its place...  "I'll show you.  Your women can be rude to me, but I can have any man I want."

The incident with Marilyn and Husband shadowing me at dinner does indicate she had a point to make.  Unfortunately I have no idea what it was.  Perhaps she will contact me and share.

For the record, Marilyn's intrusion marked the 8th incident of party crashing out of 14 trips.  But Marilyn is in a category of her own.  Marilyn distinguished herself as the only person in the history of our cruise trips to defy my request to leave us alone.

There was a couple on the 2006 New England Cruise that also crashed our activities.  Hope and Joe were not students, but rather outsiders.  They wanted to go on this trip because they had four close friends within our group.  They were told repeatedly that they needed to sign up with Marla, but apparently as "returning cruisers" they were able to obtain a significant price discount from the Royal Caribbean cruise line.  The money was more important. 

What made their story bizarre was when they decided to have their cake and eat it too.  Marla and I were stunned to discover they had gotten someone from Royal Caribbean to seat them at dinner with us!  Not only were they sitting with us, but they had even gotten our seating arrangement changed behind our backs!  Now that takes a lot of nerve. 

However, since Hope and Joe had friends in our group, out of respect for their friends, I chose not to confront them directly.  I did not want to risk an ugly encounter that would impact our group's morale.  Plus they pretty much knew they had crossed a line because they kept their distance.  I decided to leave them alone.  That said, I did write The Fascinating Story of Hope and Joe as part of the cruise recap.  If you are curious, it is a very entertaining account.

Marilyn therefore joins Hope and Joe as the only people to ever deliberately crash our group activities when told not to.  Even when Marilyn wasn't crashing our activities, she always seemed to be hanging around - at the hot tub, at the photo shoot, at our dining tables, or loitering in the hall outside of Alfred's.  You would think a woman this beautiful could find something else to amuse her, but she seemed a bit obsessed with us.  Maybe no one had ever told her to hit the road before.  That sort of thing sticks in your mind.

So what ever happened to Marilyn's sidekick?   Curiously, Marilyn's friend from the Cocktail Party on the first night gave us no further trouble at all.   I never saw her again nor heard any stories about her.  I showed my appreciation for her cooperation by deliberately omitting her picture or her name in the subsequent story.  I am only a jerk when it is called for.

I was disappointed in the man from our group who invited Marilyn to join us in the first place. That was none of his business.  Don't bring this headache into our house.  No one has the right to invite outside people to our private group activities without permission.  If he wanted to spend time with Marilyn and the other woman, it was a very large ship with plenty of alternate venues. 

On the other hand, frankly, I could not have been more proud of our women.  They solved the entire problem for me on the spot.  I think they were just as disgusted with this woman as I was.  Who did Marilyn think she was to have the nerve to keep showing up after being told she wasn't welcome?

I am fairly certain our women did not appreciate being forced to sit and watch while she monopolized our men.  There were 3,000 people on this trip, at least 1,200 of whom were men.  Why couldn't Marilyn go find some men somewhere else?  So these ladies decided they didn't need to come get me; they would handle things their own way.  Watching them close ranks was one of the highlights of my trip.  Their names will remain anonymous, but these ladies were my unsung heroes.

I imagine the incident with Marilyn will not be the last time I have to deal with intruders.  40 pages of stories is a pretty good indication this will always be a recurring headache.  Oops, make that 50 pages.

SO WHAT DOES THE LAWSUIT ALLEGE?

This is the lawsuit I was served with on March 30, 2009

"In December 2008, the Plaintiff was approached by an acquaintance who asked her how she felt about the Intruder story posted on the Internet about her.  When the Plaintiff replied that she was unaware of it, the acquaintance described the site - www.ssqq.com - as promoting Defendant Archer's business, a dance school, and the trips that he and his wife had organized for their dance school clients.  As part of promoting his business, Archer had written and posted a story about the Plaintiff being present on a cruise ship hosting one of his parties.

At her first opportunity, the Plaintiff accessed the website to see for herself what Archer had published about her.  She was stunned and sickened by what she saw.  Archer had written and published, via the Internet, a story and multiple photographs, claiming the Plaintiff had committed the crime of trespass on multiple occasions, and through these false statements, innuendo and implication, portraying her as a sexually promiscuous sociopath.

On the website, Archer included a picture of the Plaintiff kissing one man in the pool (her fiancé) and embracing another man (a long-time platonic friend) on the dance floor.  Archer described her wearing "low-cut dresses" and "monopolizing the attention of practically every man in the room."  He claimed that the Plaintiff "had made quite an impression... at the hot tub" and had "been seen in the arms of several men during the course of the trip."  Therein, Archer falsely attributes her with the quote: "I can have any man I want."

The publication communicates to the reader that the Plaintiff is mentally ill; a sociopath prepared to do anything to get what she wants, conspiring to ruin the trip for others, bragging about her sexual prowess, acting without remorse and displaying a brazen and cavalier attitude as to how it might affect others - classic indicators of Psychopathy.  The collective intent and effect of Archer's publication was to defame her by portraying her as a mentally ill, sexual deviant prone to breaking the law - and to use this salacious portrayal of the Plaintiff to build interest in his business by attracting visitors to his website.

Since first learning what Archer was doing to her, the Plaintiff has been contacted and approached by dozens of people that know her, inquiring as to what she had done to be portrayed in such a manner.   She has been referred to in public by strangers as "the Intruder", and then laughed at.

LIBEL AND LIBLE PER SE THROUGH IMPLICATION AND INNUENDO

The Plaintiff repeats each and every Paragraph of the facts as though fully set forth herein.

Defendant Archer published written statements and photographs that referred to the Plaintiff.  Archer published written statements that were defamatory and false that referred to the Plaintiff.  The statements and photographs were intentionally designed to defame the Plaintiff - to portray her through implication and innuendo - as a mentally ill, sexual deviant prone to breaking the law.  As a direct result, the Plaintiff suffered injury.

Archer's statements are libel per se under the common law definition.  Archer's statements injured the Plaintiff in her profession.  Archer's statements injured the Plaintiff in her occupation.  Archer injured the Plaintiff by publishing a statement that imputes sexual misconduct by the Plaintiff.

Due to the nature of Archer's acts, the Plaintiff's damages are presumed.  The Plaintiff suffers damages in an amount within the jurisdictional limits of this Court.  Plaintiff prays that she recover from Archer her presumed damages, statutory damages, general damages, special damages, nominal damages and/or punitive damages, reasonable attorney's fees, expenses, costs of court and all other relief, either general or special, at law or in equity, to which he may be justly entitled, in an amount to be determined by a jury at trial.

APPROPRIATION OF NAME OR LIKENESS

Plaintiff repeats each and every Paragraph of the facts as though fully set forth herein.

Defendant Archer appropriated the Plaintiff's image for the value associated with it.   Plaintiff has suffered injury as a result of Archer's appropriation.

Due to Archer's acts, the Plaintiff suffers damages in an amount within the jurisdictional limits of this Court.  Plaintiff prays that she recover from Archer her presumed damages, statutory damages, general damages, special damages, nominal damages and/or punitive damages, reasonable attorney's fees, expenses, costs of court and all other relief, either general or special, at law or in equity, to which he may be justly entitled, in an amount to be determined by a jury at trial.

JURY DEMAND

Plaintiff herby demands a jury trial on all issues that can be submitted to a jury.

PRAYER

Plaintiff prays that:

1.            Defendant be cited to appear and answer herein;

2.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for her damages;

3.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for post-judgment interest at the maximum legal rate;

4.            Plaintiff be granted judgment against Defendant for reasonable attorney's fee and costs of court.

5.            Plaintiff be granted such other and further relief, special or general, legal or equitable, as Plaintiff may show that he is justly entitled to receive."

 THE COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION

To me, this woman's lawsuit is an act of aggression. 

This is where we will leave things for today.  If you wish to comment, I would appreciate hearing from you.  You can assume that everything you say will be kept private including your name and your comments.  If I wish to publish your letter, I will ask you permission first.
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