I am working on buiding a tell a friend script and it works, but before any information is added it's echoing an error.

I'm working from a previous script that was just a contact form.

Here is the original section of code...
PHP Code:
if (isset($c['submit'])) {
    if (empty($c['name']) || empty($c['email']) || empty($c['comments'])) {
        $error_msg .= "Name, Email, and Question / Comment are required fields. \n";
    } elseif (strlen($c['name']) > 25) {
        $error_msg .= "The name field is limited at 25 characters. Your first name will do! \n";
    } elseif (!ereg("^[A-Za-z' -]", $c['name'])) {
        $error_msg .= "The name field must not contain special characters. \n";
    } elseif (!ereg("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,6})$",strtolower($c['email']))) {
        $error_msg .= "That is not a valid e-mail address. \n";
    }

    if ($error_msg == NULL) {
        $show_form = false;

        if (!empty($c['url']) && !ereg("^(http|https)", $c['url'])) {
            $c['url'] = "http://" . $c['url'];
        } 
...and this is what I've changed it to (vars were all changed in my form so no issue there.
PHP Code:
if (isset($c['submit'])) {
    if (empty($c['y_name']) || empty($c['y_email']) || empty($c['f_name']) || empty($c['f_email']) || empty($c['comments'])) {
        $error_msg .= "All fields are required, please fill them in. \n";
## YOUR INFO CHECK ## 
    } elseif (strlen($c['y_name']) > 25) {
        $error_msg .= "Please enter your name. \n";
    } elseif (!ereg("^[A-Za-z' -]", $c['y_name'])) {
        $error_msg .= "Your name must not contain special characters. \n";
        
    } elseif (!ereg("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,6})$",strtolower($c['y_email']))) {
        $error_msg .= "Your email address isn't valid. \n";
    }
## FRIEND INFO CHECK ##
    } elseif (strlen($c['f_name']) > 25) {
        $error_msg .= "Please enter your friend's name. \n";
    } elseif (!ereg("^[A-Za-z' -]", $c['f_name'])) {
        $error_msg .= "Your friend's name must not contain special characters. \n";
        
    } elseif (!ereg("^[_a-z0-9-]+(\.[_a-z0-9-]+)*@[a-z0-9-]+(\.[a-z0-9-]+)*(\.[a-z]{2,6})$",strtolower($c['f_email']))) {
        $error_msg .= "Your friend's email address isn't valid. \n";
    }

    if ($error_msg == NULL) {
        $show_form = false;

        if (!empty($c['url']) && !ereg("^(http|https)", $c['url'])) {
            $c['url'] = "http://" . $c['url'];
        } 
The modified code gets the job done but when you view the form before anything is added it shows "Your friend's name must not contain special characters."

I'll post more code if needed but am trying to avoid posting a long section of code. Maybe someone will spot something in the above that I am overlooking. Thank you