Keep it short - follow IRAC. Hi. A new client of ours. Cortese Conservation. has requested we sell to it on BID-day credit terms. I am concerned about extending credit. Aterminated employee has publicly leveled serious charges of malfeasance against the company. The company responded to the employee's accusations and followed it up with a defamation lawsuit against her. But now she has countersued with her own defamation suit. seeking $50 million. With this reputational damage and risk of paying a judgment. Cortese may become insolvent. We need to know if these legal quarrels have merit before we ship product to Cortese. Cortese. as you may know. restores art work. including museum-grade paintings. Its CED. Cesar Cortese. the terminated employee was one of its restorers. Dr. Genevieve Porter. she told the online edition of the National Fine Arts Journal that the company does \"shoddy work." After she was red. she told the NFAJ that \"that the company restored a noted classic Dutch painting. 'The ldyll'. using a lead white pigment mixed with lead-tin yellow instead of a heat-modied oil. which she said was "completely wrong\". Cortese alleges these statements defamed it. In a follow up article. Cesar Cortese was interviewed by NFAJ. He said Dr. Porter was terminated for being a "poor performer\". Indeed. he asserted all materials Cortese uses are professionally proper and that Dr. Porter's opinions are her own and "unworthy of credence.\" because she is just \"a disgruntled employee" who was let go for \"submitting numerous appraisal reports .\" He said her reports contained serious factual errors. including the year "The ldyll\" was painted and whether chalk should be used as an impasto extender in the oil paintings of that era. The NFAJ wrote that it had sought to conrm Porter's accusations by seeking comment from several art restoration experts. but none responded. Porter's lawsuit names both Cortese Conservation. Cesar Cortese. and the NFAJ as defendants. Do any of these claims and counter claims have any chance of success? Thoughts