When it comes down to a legal battle, it's not who is right or who is wrong, it' who has the most money. If some rich SoB wants to come after you for slander or libel, you have to defend yourself. If he has a murder of lawyers at his disposal, he can break you, lose, and drag out the appeals until you die.
Look what Ford did to Robert Kearns. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1054588/ T
