by Paul Alan Levy
The last time I blogged about Med Express, the eBay seller that brought a defamation suit against two eBay customers for leaving truthful and mildly critical feedback, then apologized and blamed its lawyer for filing a different lawsuit from the one it wanted to file, we had just gone to trial on the motion for sanctions. Med Express’s principal, Richard Radey, testified at the trial that that he personally witnessed the defendants leaving “Detailed Seller Ratings” about the incidents which, he asserted, were demonstrably false statements of fact. My blog post pointed out that eBay maintained electronic records rebuttingRadey’s testimony.
We then moved for leave to add the eBay documentation to the record of the sanctions hearing. When the parties appeared at a hearing on that motion, having also filed post-trial briefs on the sanctions issue, the judge urged the parties to settle the sanctions issue lest he have to make findings on the record about whether Radey had perjured himself at the sanctions hearing. The result was an agreement whereby Med Express promised to make monthly payments totaling a portion of the fee application, while allowing a judgment to be entered in the full amount of the fees if Med Express missed any payments. The parties agreed that only the settlement amount would remain confidential, but that even that confidentiality would be lost if payments were missed.
However, Med Express has missed the first of the agreed payments, and has refused to sign the documentation of the oral agreement that was announced in court because he wants a confidentiality clause. The lawyer who had entered the case for Med Express after sanctions were sought, and obtained a delay in the sanctions hearing so that he could become familar with the case, moved for leave to withdraw in favor of yet another new lawyer. Rather than allow the sanctions issue to be dragged out any further, defendants have now moved to enforce the oral settlement agreement.
Stay tuned.
For those who wish to consider this history in deciding with whom to do business on eBay, Med Express has changed the name of its eBay account to "Medical Specialists."
UPDATE
Med Express' new lawyer has appeared, and file an opposition brief that rather reinforces the points made in our motion to enforce.
