To make a story as short as possible, my wife, my daughters, and her mother went to a restaurant last month. The appetizer was bad, they asked for it to be removed from the order and all hell broke loose between them and the owner. The owner ended up striking my wife in the face with his elbow (he claimed it to be him pointing at the front door telling her to get out) He was all in her face, he told my daughter to, "shut the fuck up" and to, "waddle her fat ass out of the restaurant". My wife called the cops, he ended up taking pictures of her car and dancing in front of the door mocking her while they waited on the cops. The cops showed up, reviewed the footage, said there wasn't enough evidence to do much and "there is no law against being an asshole" but recommended that we post a review online explaining what happened.
I get home and do so on google and on facebook where it was shared a bunch of times.
Fast forward to today, I receive a certified letter in the mail from his lawyer with him threatening to sue me for loss of business and defamation saying we lied about everything saying that we accused him of not refunding the money for the appetizer (I never said he didn't refund the money just that it was started because of it) and that we accused him of bodily harm and cussing. He absolutely cussed out my daughter as well as hit my wife with his elbow. I never said he caused her harm but that he struck her in the face with his elbow and that he claimed to the police that he was pointing towards the door.
What are my legal options and does anyone know of a good lawyer that isn't going to make me go bankrupt. Part of me says delete the posts and move on, but the other part says you can't allow this guy to keep bullying people and just because he has the funds for a lawyer that he should get away with it. What would you do? This guy has a wife and children of his own, he should know better than to treat people like that and I think his actions need to be made aware to the local community.