Landlord sues tenant after tweet about moldy apartment

[nsane.forums]

Those 140-character "microblog" posts to Twitter don't constitute much more than links, dinner recipes, and bitching, right? Be careful with the bitching, though—a property management company in Chicago has filed a lawsuit against a tenant who tweeted an off-the-cuff comment about the company. The company, Horizon Group Management, says that the Twitter user in question sent the message maliciously, and is now asking for $50,000 in damages.

It all started when Twitter user @abonnen (Amanda Bonnen, who has since deleted her Twitter account) said to a friend on May 12, "You should just come anyway. Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay." At the time of the tweet, Bonnen's profile was public (meaning that everyone could read her Twitter stream) and she had about 20 followers.

Horizon must have been monitoring its mentions on Twitter—as many companies do these days—because someone there saw the tweet and immediately got moving with legal action. In its complaint, Horizon says that the tweet was "wholly false" and that the company has been "greatly injured in its reputation as a landlord in Chicago." It is suing Bonnen on the grounds that her tweet was defamatory, she damaged the company's reputation and business, and that she should be liable for the damages.

There are several reasons why this lawsuit is breaking new ground, not the least of which is its Twitter origin. There is much debate as to whether people's Twitter streams are more like blogs—which are increasingly being held to the same legal standards as regular media when it comes to defamation—or a giant chat room, where most people presume "anything goes." It may actually be somewhere in between, but the one problem with trying to hold tweets to a higher journalistic standard is the hard character limitation—it's difficult to back up your comments within 140 characters (or even within several 140-character tweets), plus links to sources or pictures of evidence.

As it turns out, Horizon made no effort to sort out this issue with Bonnen before filing the lawsuit. Horizon owner Jeffrey Michael told the Chicago Sun-Times that the company had never spoken to Bonnen about the tweet and never asked her to take it down. "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization," he said.

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[shought]

As it turns out, Horizon made no effort to sort out this issue with Bonnen before filing the lawsuit. Horizon owner Jeffrey Michael told the Chicago Sun-Times that the company had never spoken to Bonnen about the tweet and never asked her to take it down. "We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization," he said.

Oh, I'm sure your customers would all love to hear that Mr. Jeff.

Well, I for one think Horizon Group Management pretty much sucks. Are you gonna sue me now? :fear:

Why isn't she suing them because they "greatly injured her reputation as someone who never bitches in Chicago"? It's bullshit, but if they can win their case, she should be able to win hers as well(which would be totally ridiculous, to say the least).