Woman sued for $50,000 because of a tweet
A Chicago woman named Amanda Bonnen tweeted to an audience of 20 followers on Twitter that her apartment had mold in it. Not long after, the company that owns the apartment complex filed a law suit against her for defamation. They’re claiming $50,000 in damages.
How funny. It was just a matter of time. Too bad it’ll get thrown out if she does have mold. A claim of mold isn’t considered defamation. The same laws apply online with regard to defamation as they do offline. If mold is a criminal offense and they don’t have it, then she could be in trouble. But, on the converse side, her reverse damages could be worse if she’s not lying. Did she post a twitpic with it?
Amanda Vega
http://www.amandavega.com
Major PR fail, but Twitter isn’t the whole story. Real estate has a culture, and part of that culture is “when in doubt, sue.”
And by doing so, the story is all over the local airwaves and websites here in Chicago, thus exponentially expanding (from 20 to potentially millions) the number of people who suspect that this landlord rents out moldy apartments. Well done, landlord.