Re: Judge tosses Twitter libel suit

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JC,

Why do you write such stuff? Its goofy. Anyone who knew even
the elementary facts of my case would easily be able to see
that you are writing without knowledge of what you write.

On 1/27/10, johncodie wrote:
> Sharon:
>
> You seem to be refreshed after a few weeks of political mine
> field warfare. Is your ability of threading a needle with
> thread as about as good as mine, ie hit and miss.
>
> I can see a few differences in the twitter case, and your
> case but won't go into elaberation.
>
> And did you have a chance to find the hero of the
> constitutional fist admendment? A clue is the term
> used "phlidelphia attorney".
>
> And would'nt you think it best to use the term "University
> of Mississippi" rather than "Ole Miss"? Perhaps you could
> give insight as to to how that association began?
>
> Just remember for magicians its smoke and mirrors, for the
> attorney representing you it is "perspective".
>
> jc
>
> On 1/22/10, Sharon wrote:
>> Judge tosses Twitter libel suit
>>
>>
>> CHICAGO (STMW) -- In 140 characters, the story can be
> told:
>> A judge has tossed the libel suit against an Uptown tenant
>> for her Twitter post on apartment mold.
>>
>> Cook County Circuit Court Judge Diane Larsen this week
>> threw out Horizon Realty Group’s libel suit against Amanda
>> Bonnen, who had sent out a tweet complaining about mold in
>> a Horizon apartment.
>>
>> The judge wrote in her brief decision: “the court finds
> the
>> tweet nonactionable as a matter of law.”
>>
>> When the suit was filed and the media picked up on it, the
>> story went viral — prompting freedom-of-speech discussion
>> in this age of social media.
>>
>> In filing the suit last summer, Horizon claimed its
>> reputation was hurt when an Amanda Bonnen, using the
>> handle “abonnen” posted: “Who said sleeping in a moldy
>> apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it’s
> okay.”
>>
>> But Bonnen’s attorney Leslie Ann Reis said the case
> against
>> her client didn’t meet the legal definition of defamation.
>>
>> “A defendant needs to have made a false statement
>> concerning the plaintiff, that there was a publication to
> a
>> third party and that the publication of that statement
> hurt
>> the plaintiff, and you have to reach each of those hurdles
>> to prevail on a defamation claim,”
>>
>> said Reis, Assistant Professor and Director for the Center
>> for Information Technology and Privacy Law at John
> Marshall
>> Law School. She helped defend Bonnen in the libel case.
>>
>> “Ms. Bonnen’s statements didn’t reach that definition of
>> defamation,” Reis said, adding: “It could be easily
>> construed as being her opinion,” which is different from
>> libelous.
>>
>> The case was dismissed with prejudice, so it can’t be
> filed
>> again.
>>
>> The Chicago-based Horizon Realty couldn’t be reached for
>> comment on Thursday, a day after the case was dismissed.
>>
>> But last July the company issued a statement explaining
>> that this all bubbled to the surface after Bonnen filed
>> suit June 2 against the company for allegedly violating
> the
>> city’s landlord ordinance, and she moved out of the
>> apartment June 30.
>>
>> Some time after that, the company came across the
>> May “moldy” Twitter post.
>>
>> Jeff Michael, whose family has run Horizon for 25 years,
>> told the Sun-Times at the time the suit was filed that
> they
>> had not approached Bonnen about taking down the post.
>>
>> “We’re a sue first, ask questions later kind of an
>> organization,” he said.
>>
>> Bonnen’s attorney said her client is thankful the case is
>> behind her.
>>
>> “Certainly the publicity surprised her and she’s extremely
>> happy to get on with her life at this point,” Reis said.
>>
>> And while her client did nothing wrong, Reis said this is
> a
>> cautionary tale in this age of posting the details of our
>> lives — and our opinions — on Facebook, Twitter and other
>> social networking sites.
>>
>> “It’s an important point we’re trying to stress to our
>> students,” Reis said. “With any of our social media out
>> there today, you need to think twice about what you write
>> there. Social media postings are being looked at by lots
> of
>> people and lots of entities that people don’t think about,
>> whether that’s employers, whether that’s opponents in
>> litigation, and we all need to think about that.”
>>
>>
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>> Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast,
>> rewritten, or redistributed.