12/17/13 - The civil battle involving a Howell man who was sued after posting a negative review of a local construction company on the Internet is entering a new phase. In September of last year, Justin Hamel paid Paulson's Construction of Howell nearly $20,000 to remodel his bathroom. However, he was very unhappy with the job and said portions of the work were incomplete. Hamel subsequently wrote a negative review of Paulson's and posted it to several sites around the Internet, claiming he tried for months to work with the company to get someone else to fix the problems but to no avail. When Paulson's caught wind of the review, the company filed suit against Hamel in Livingston County Circuit Court for defamation, saying it had been willing to address Hamel's concerns in a friendly manner but the customer instead took to the Internet to smear the company. An earlier ruling from an arbiter said the Paulsonâs Construction couldnât prevent Hamel from using its name on a website that he created to post his complaints against the company. The case remains scheduled for trial next June but court records show that an order for mediation was filed following a recent status conference. Should mediation fail to provide any resolution or settlement, then the parties will be required to go to case evaluation, which is where a three-member panel will attempt to resolve the case before trial. (JM)
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