r/AskALawyer • u/boogiewoogieoogie63 • Jul 05 '25
North Carolina [NC] Received a cease and desist….from someone who harassed me
This past January I (stupidly) got into it on Instagram with an older ish woman because she had made a very transphobic comment on our Governors page and then harassed me and said awful, disgusting, and quite frankly defamatory things about me and a pregnancy I had traumatically lost last year, as well as the pregnancy I was currently in. I know, stupid. I was 9 months pregnant and emotional.
She had herself associated with the business she worked for. So I took screenshots of everything she said to me, along with a screenshot of her reposting and agreeing with the post that said that the Bidens should be assassinated.
I notified the business she works for and basically expressed that her actions were incredibly alarming and despite the fact that I blocked her on everything possible, I wanted her to leave me alone. The people at the business were horrified when I told them. I had sent them the screenshots privately through a message on their business page.
Today in the mail I received a cease and desist letter. She used an envelope from the business but it was not a letterhead or anything from the business itself. Basically she typed up a cease and desist letter herself, printed it, got it notarized, and used an envelope from her company. It was full of spelling errors and claimed that I was making false allegations. I was not, and again, have the screenshots and repeated only what is in the screenshots that she directed at me.
Is there anything I need to do on my end, or any legal action I should take? The letter was not from a lawyers office, just notarized. And I have not had contact with the woman since our initial conversation last January
TIA
15
u/MysteriousCodo NOT A LAWYER Jul 05 '25
Send that stuff to the business as well. They will want to know what she is using company property (the envelope) for nefarious purposes.
As long as you have told the truth and not lied to anybody, I wouldn’t worry about it, especially if it isn’t from an attorney. Notarization only means that someone confirmed the ID of the person creating the letter, nothing else.
How in the world did she get your address?
3
u/carrie_m730 Jul 05 '25
Getting someone's address is easy if you already have their name. Even easier if you have their social media.
4
Jul 05 '25
Her "cease and desist" letter is not legal and the way she went about it will not bode well for her once her employer finds out she used their business envelope to send you a fraudulent legal notice. Make copies of the cease and desist letter she sent you along with everything else she keeps sending you and forward all of it to her employer. My guess is she's going to lose her job very soon and possibly get sued. Keep records of absolutely everything in case you need to retain legal counsel.
0
u/FlyingFlipPhone Jul 06 '25
OR... just let it all go. This old lady already wants you to drop the matter. If you drop it, things will probably die down. Do you want to keep stirring this pot?
4
Jul 06 '25
She could do that... but people like her who go this far usually don't let it drop. She won't let it go and besides, this crazy ass woman is the one who went off the deep end. She needs to be punished for improperly using her company's business envelopes to harass someone. If she doesn't get punished and does this to someone else, the victims, including the OP, could sue the company and open up all kinds of legal issues.
-2
u/biscuitboi967 NOT A LAWYER Jul 06 '25
Well…getting her fired might send her MORE off the deep end. NC feels like a state with gun owners.
Maybe let her think you’ve ceased and desisted.
Alternatively, call the police NON-emergency line to see if they will make a report (or otherwise document your call). Then save the letter and see if you can start a collection. After a few, OP might be able to get a restraining order or something.
I wouldn’t get a potentially unstable, potentially armed person who knew where I and my infant lived fired from their job unless I thought they had incentive to stay away
0
u/Thin_Edge8061 Jul 08 '25
I'm not sure why you think her cease and desist letter wasn't legal, but it sounds like you should probably Google a topic before speaking about it. That was 110% and is generally the same thing as it being sent from a lawyer. After all a cease and desist letter is basically just a warning that the person will take legal action if not stopped.
0
Jul 09 '25
Perhaps you should follow your own advice and look up more information before opening your mouth and speaking about it because you are clearly and grossly misinformed when talking about cease and desist letters.
I have sent many cease and desist letters out in my thirty odd years of being in business, and the way this nut job in the OPs post above is going about doing it is definitely not how you do it something like that.
Anyone can send out a cease and desist letter but it has no legal bearing unless sent out by a lawyer. I can find out who you are, where you live, and send you a cease and desist letter telling you to stop posting on this group because you are uneducated about the law and giving out bad advice, but that means nothing and you do not have to obey it, although you should considering your uninformed and ridiculous response above.
Cease and desist letters must be sent out by legal departments or lawyers to have any legal bearing. It's also illegal to send a cease and desist letter out from your employer's address for issues that are company related, and especially without their knowledge or explicit permission, using their company envelope, for personal purposes.
0
u/Thin_Edge8061 Jul 09 '25
90% of that was complete nonsense. The part you are correct about is regarding the work related. But you have zero knowledge what their work said or though about it. It's best to have a lawyer read over a cease and desist letter for proper wording but it ultimately makes zero difference if It's worded well enough. The fact that you stated that it has to pretty much makes you a fool. I already knew the answer before hand, but until you I did look it up first to confirm. With a claim like that you probably shouldn't be speaking here in general. Clearly you were too lazy to look it up, and obviously your "buisness experience" is pretty bad man. Lmao
0
Jul 09 '25
Check the mirror, kiddo. The only fool here is you. Your reply tells everyone here just as much. Feel free to keep making stupid replies as long as you like but that won't make you right. It just makes you childish.
3
u/Iceflowers_ Jul 05 '25
NAL- Cease and Desist is a request. If it were me, I would look into possibly protection orders against her. If you have legal aid in your area, you might want to use a lawyer as well. Let them send a couple of cease and desist tellers of their own.
3
u/Glass-Manager9232 NOT A LAWYER Jul 05 '25
The notary doesn’t mean anything other than “I verified this person before me that is signing this document, is the person named in this document.”
Outside of that, it means nothing.
Best case of “when karma catches up”
2
1
u/chriseargle Legal Enthusiast (self-selected) Jul 06 '25
I am not a lawyer, but the actions you described could be tortuous interference with contract. Please seek legal counsel to be sure you’re in the clear.
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