Complaining Too Loudly About a Company Can Get You Sued

Larry White invested $49,000 with Health Career Agents Inc., a company that claims to be able to set you up in the business of recruiting health care professionals for hospitals with a hefty initial investment.

White feels he didn’t investigate the person behind Health Career Agents and doesn’t want others to make the same mistake. He has set up several websites to warn people who do research before investing. This month, he was sued for his efforts.

If White had done his research, he would have found that Brian Marchant-Calsyn’s history is far from unblemished. Marchant-Calsyn, the person behind Health Career Agents and Zeal Sales Inc., has had several consumer complaints filed against his business with the Missouri Attorney General’s Office. (To see the complaints, go to the attorney general's website of consumer complaints and search "Health Career Agents.") He's been sued several times in St. Louis County Circuit Court. He changed his name from Brian Marchant in 2001 after serving a two-year jail term in the Lewisburg Pennsylvania Federal Prison for manufacturing and distributing LSD.

I found out about this when I was a Town and Country alderman. Marchant-Calsyn had bought two lots and a house on Topping Road in 2007. He built an expensive fence around the property. Neighbors were concerned and came to me. When neighbors told me he had filed for a permit to build an electronic gate across his driveway, I fought to deny the permit. Marchant-Calsyn’s attorney sent a letter to neighbors threatening legal action if they complained to the city about the fence and the gate. I’d call this a “slap letter.” (See the PDFs attached to this article to read the letter.) The gate permit was approved in late November 2008, but Marchant-Calsyn’s legal troubles were far from over.

Marchant-Calsyn’s various businesses have jumped from address to address in Creve Coeur, Chesterfield, Town and Country and Ballwin over the years, Missouri Secretary of State records state. In 2008, he was sued for back rent. Recently, both Health Career Agents Inc. and Zeal Sales Inc. were listed at 14248 F Manchester Road in Manchester. .

Marchant and Health Career Agents were hit with more than $175,000 of judgments in St. Louis County Circuit Court from lawsuits filed by investors in 2010, according to a search of court records on Missouri Case.net.

Now along comes Larry White of Canton, MI. White set up the websites healthcareeragentssucks.com and zealsalessuck.com. Using public records, White lays out Mr. Marchant-Calsyn’s background dating back to his LSD days, plus every garnishment and lawsuit.

If you Google "Zeal Sales," zealsalessucks.com pops up before the Zeal Sales' website. Potential customers can’t even get the company website without being intercepted by Larry White.

Marchant-Calsyn apparently doesn’t like White’s complaining in cyberspace. On April 5, he filed suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court against White claiming defamation, injurious falsehood, tortious interference with a business expectancy, tortious false light, invasion of privacy and tortious intrusion on seclusion.    

I can remember years ago when a disgruntled customer would walk in front of a car dealership with a sign saying they had been cheated over a repair bill or got stuck with a lemon. Often the dealer would settle with the person. It was an example of using your right of free speech.

Nowadays, with the all the Internet businesses, it is hard to carry a sign in front of the business that you think cheated you. It will be interesting to see what the court decides.