Yup, Truehope is threatening to sue me, Natasha Tracy, mental health writer with regards to slander and defamation of their company and product, EMPowerplus. All this because of six articles written over a year-and-a-half ago (when I tried their product).

Truehope Threatens to Sue Natasha Tracy

Last week I received a threatening piece of registered mail from Anthony F. Stephan, president of Truehope Nutritional Support Ltd.. In this letter, (titled re: Slander/Defamation), Stephan accuses me of being “engaged in a campaign of slander and defamation to Truehope” and the products they produce. He then, further, accuses me of making statements I knew to be false and that I have “facilitated a forum for others to engage in publishing defamatory statements regarding Truehope.” (Naughty, naughty commenters and their free speech.)

President Stephan then “demands” that I immediately remove “all remarks to third parties of such a nature within seven (7) days.” He then “demands” that I “print a public apology and retraction.”

[“Slander,” by the way, is not what he means. Clearly he doesn’t understand the meaning of the word as that word indicates spoken communication and not written. But let’s not quibble over technicalities like the English language or the law.]

Mental Health Writer Natasha Tracy Not Backing Down

Now, I assume he thinks that as a little ol’ mental health writer, I would back down under threat of a lawsuit. Indeed, that would be the simplest thing to do. However, I am not backing down. I am not removing the articles and I am certainly not writing an apology or retraction. In short, Truehope can bite me.

Threat of Lawsuit by Truehope to Natasha Tracy

The letter then goes on to read,

Your calumny will not be tolerated. Should you refuse to rectify your malfeasance within the aforesaid time we will refer this matter to our legal department to protect our good name by commencing legal action against you for injunctive relief as well as the recovery of damages, including punitive damages and costs on a solicitor client basis, without further notice to you.

Update: I did have a link to the complete letter here but I have since removed it as offering it online may be seen as a copyright infringement. Sorry.

What Does Natasha Tracy Think of the Lawsuit Threat by Truehope?

Truehope threatens to sue mental health writer Natasha Tracy for opinion of EMPowerplus. Look, I can’t really tell you what I think of this because well, naturally, some delightful human being could use it in a lawsuit. What I will tell you is that I’m angry and I consider this to be not fair right or reasonable. There is still a thing called freedom of speech. I know this because people have died for it. I employ it every day. And every day I say things that some people don’t like. These people do not threaten to sue me, mostly because they don’t have a leg to stand on.

So, in short, if you’re a Truehope supporter, you should know the kind of company you’re in bed with and, quite frankly, you should be outraged at such baseless threats against a writer just expressing an opinion. If you’re not a Truehope supporter, well, I’m with you there.

What Is Natasha Tracy Getting Threatened to Be Sued Over?

If you’re curious what all the fuss and threatening is about, see:

Header image by: Rifqi Jamil (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Image by: By k_donovan11 (Congressional Quote) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons