Renter Sued for Libel due to Twitter Post

by James Hatch on July 28, 2009

In what is going to be a great example of The Streisand Effect, the Horizon Group Management LLC is suing a former renter of a property managed by the organization. With the somewhat dubious proclamation of “We’re a ’sue first, ask questions later’ kind of an organization,” they come across as an organization out to SLAPP someone. This now public discussion is going to gather steam. It will do so particularly with people of the internet age who believe that a post on what I call an instant-context-forum, such as Twitter and Facebook, amounts to a comment between a small group of friends sitting around a table. The amount of harm here is going to grow, but only because they sued, and subsequently it was made public. No other real reason. It would have been whoever was following that user, in this case named “abonnen” on Twitter. Apparently, it either was taken down completely, or there is such a mad rush to view the offending tweet that I can’t reach it. Anyway, it is making its rounds. [Source]

Ethically, the problem falls in an apparent break between people who live their lives digitally, and those who make claims such as “We’re a sue first, ask questions later, kind of organization” which probably doesn’t spend too much time online or thinking about how society is changing. Is it okay to make claims that a company doesn’t think its wrong to fix a mold problem as abonnen claimed? Perhaps, but we don’t know the full back story of what transpired. Perhaps repeated attempts at getting the renters problems fixed had failed and Bonnen simply vented to her friends who follow her tweets. Now, Jonathan Turley has blogged about it, and it is on Reddit.com, which doesn’t bode well.

Okay, so it is spreading more and more… via TechMeme:

Marian Wang / Chicago Bar-tender: UPDATED: Rounding up the buzz… Will one Chicago woman’s Tweet cost her $50,000?
Stephanie Schomer / Fast Company: Would You Twitter if Your Tweet Carried a $50,000 Price Tag?
David Coursey / PC World: Warning: The Wrong Tweet Can Get You Sued
WBBM-TV: Uptown Resident Sued For Twitter Post
Michael Masnick / Techdirt: Sued Over Twitter Message? Can You Defame Someone In 140 Characters Or Less?
Chris Matyszczyk / CNET News: Twitter post gets renter sued by landlord
Digits: Moldy Tweet Gets Tenant Sued in Chicago
Sean P. Aune / TECH.BLORGE.com: Message on Twitter leads to lawsuit
Pete Cashmore / Mashable!: Woman Sued for $50,000 Over a Tweet
James Lewin / Podcasting News: Chicago’s Horizon Realty Group Sues Woman For $50,000 Over A Tweet
Sean Percival / lalawag: Sued for $50,000 Over Moldy Tweet
Amit Chowdhry / Pulse2: Horizon Realty Suing Amanda Bonnen Over A Tweet For $50,000
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Tagged as: Crime, Ethics, Libel, Public Shame, Technology

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