Challenging a Court Order

Dear Reader,

I do not have enough information to give you advice on this matter (remember that the advice here is not meant to be definitive legal advice, but rather points of discussion. You must still see a lawyer immediately).

That said, from what you have said, your friend's strongest ground is his claim that he has not been notified by the court of the goings-on. I will let you know that in my 8 years' experience, such claims are either not true or untenable in any case. It may well be that your friend simply ignored court notices. It may be that your friend made himself or herself difficult to find to serve with court notices. If the second theory is true, the court could have ordered substituted service which means service by another means such as the newspapers or posting the notice on the court notice board and/or on the wall of your friend's building.

If in spite of the paragraph above your friend is positive that he or she has not been notified of the court proceedings as well as the order at the end of the proceedings, they may bring any of several applications to the same court which gave the order. Without discussing the fine, technical detail, such applications include:

- Application for Review (of the Court Order);

- Application to Set Aside the Order of the Court;

- Application for Stay of Execution (of the Court Order);

It may serve your purposes better to try some of these applications. If they are successful, your friend has respite. If they are unsuccessful, then your friend can go on appeal (but eventually, your friend is likely to lose the land since he is not a bona fide purchaser of the land without notice. This simply means that your friend did not do the requisite enquiry to find out if there were no competing interests in the land they bought.

Good luck to your friend.

Mentioning Competitors in Your Ads

Dear Reader:

1. Within the limits of the law, a person should be able to mention their competitors in an ad.
2. Within the limits of the law means you must not defame (libel or slander) them.
3. Even if the words are spoken in the ad, the fact that the words are permanent (i.e. the ad has been recorded on DVD or in another form) makes it libel and not slander.
4. I believe you can for example say than your product is better than your competitor's.
5. You may even be able to say yours is healthier since it is relative and does not say that theirs in unhealthy.
6. The problem arises when you attribute negative, hazardous or dangerous attributes to your competitor's product.
7. For example, if you are going to claim in an ad that your competitor's product causes blindness or cancer or impotence or obesity or hypertension, you must have some (scientific) proof of that. If you have proof, then you can fall on the defence of Justification (a fancy word for truth) if they sue you for defamation.
8. But defamation is not the only complaint your competitor could have against you.
9. There is an area of law called economic torts. One such is Tortious (Wrongful) Interference with Business Relationships, where Party A's conduct or statement prevents Party B from successfully building or retaining business relationships. An example would be where your false or unsubstantiated statement about a product causing cancer causes the producer to lose their present and prospective clientele. 
10. Just as with defamation, a person who has suffered an economic tort by your action can sue you for damages.
11. In sum, beyond making damaging comments about your competitor in your ad, there is very little they can do. If your statement is merely comparative, it may well be seen in law as a mere 'puff', without more.

(I apologise for not coming back earlier. I took my eyes off this space because I had not had a question in a while.)