Hello. I have a legal question about a possible defamation lawsuit. I hired an act to do a video shoot but after failing to do a certain scene.. this person agreed to do a reshoot with more money. I never had contracts for the project. Only done via emails & paypal. The reshoot never happened as the person kept making excuses and canceling dates.. I asked for the money back but they declined to do so. As as result i was left with an unfinished video & money wasted on director's location etc. Since the act did not give the money back for the reshoot.. felt that's clearly stealing. Also just wanted to make note.. the act found out they're manager was pocketing money I gave for the agreed amount I hired the person for this. They claimed they're manager never gave them their share of the money, but anyway after months of waiting to see if the act would change their mind and refund me back.. nothing happened and i decided to release the unfinished video with other footage to a blog. and wrote that the person steals money, & other rumors i found out of the person on other blogging websites.
Once the person saw that, they are now threating me with a lawsuit for defamation & for suffering from humiliation. The person claiming to sue still don't plan on giving any type of money back that ui spent on the the video and they want money for damages.
Could I possibly have a winning case or may I still lose even though the act did steal the extra money for reshooting & still not give a dime back.. or does this sound like a losing case & best i should try to settle the case by giving the amount they would want?
