Sued Over Twitter Message? Can You Defame Someone In 140 Characters Or Less?
from the sue-first,-ask-questions-later dept
Tom writes in to alert us that a woman in Chicago has been sued for defamation by the company that manages her apartment over a Twitter message. The message she put on Twitter read:"Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay."And, rather than address a concern of one of their residents, the company brought out the lawyers, and sued for over $50,000. A little investigation reveals that the woman had all of 20 followers, which makes you question just how much actual damage was done by this message.
Still, for my money, the best single paragraph/statement about Horizon Group Management has to be the following one, in the Chicago Sun-Times, quoting Jeffrey Michael, speaking for Horizon Group (and a member of the family that runs it):
"We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization," he said, noting that the company manages 1,500 apartments in Chicago and has a good reputation it wants to preserve.I'm curious as to how being a "sue first, ask questions later kind of organization" meshes with having "a good reputation it wants to preserve." I'd argue that (1) suing a tenant of a meaningless tweet (and drawing much more attention to the complaint) and (2) claiming that you're a "sue first, ask questions later kind of organization" in the national media are going to do a hell of a lot more damage to any "good reputation" (if it existed in the first place) than some random woman with 20 followers bitching about mold in her apartment.
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Filed Under: apartment, defamation, lawsuits, twitter
Companies: horizon group management, twitter
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Oh well, battering yourself into a hole isnt so bad as long as she can get something out of it..
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That pretty much sums it up...
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Re: That pretty much sums it up...
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Having just read the Chicago Sun Times article...
Maybe the folks at Horizon breathed in too much of their own alleged mold, because nothing else explains their stupidity.
Oh, and what's "marinating" on the Crystal Ball? I thought this word was applicable to meat only.
:|
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Mmhmm...
FORMER resident, actually, but that isn't really the point. The way the Chicago area justice system handles real estate law is an absolute joke. They are so pro-owner as to make renter's rights laughable. In fact, in several instances that I'm personally aware of, judges have sided with landlords and property groups OVER clear Illinois law (most commonly with regard to interest payments on security deposits).
"A little investigation reveals that the woman had all of 20 followers"
HAD being the key word. I can assure you she has more now. I could have sworn there was some kind of effect named after this type of thing....
""We're a sue first, ask questions later kind of an organization," he said, noting that the company manages 1,500 apartments in Chicago and has a good reputation it wants to preserve."
Proof that just because you can speak doesn't mean you can be a spokesman. I have read this quote aloud to several co-workers and none of them have believed it's an actual quote. "Who would actually SAY that?" they ask.
More to the point, Horizon Group isn't a BBB accredited business according to the BBB website, although they don't have all that terrible a rating (B-). Interestingly, they also operate Elmhurst Terrace Apts., which are right down the street from a suburb I lived in for a while, and those buildings were THE place to go if you needed drugs.
Who said high school kids getting drugs from residents of your slum apartments is a bad thing? {Too fearful of a lack of understanding of the privacy policy on TD to post the rest of my joke, so just think it and laugh to yourself)
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Re: Mmhmm...
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Re: Mmhmm...
Actually, I read, I believe on CNET, that her Twitter account is now disabled. No word on whether she did it or was pressured into it.
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The critical question...
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Re: The critical question...
Even if she was flat-out lying, suing her is probably the worst thing you could possibly do.
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Re: The critical question...
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Re: Re: Re: The critical question...
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"Can You Defame Someone In 140 Characters Or Less?"
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There, fixed that for ya
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Is that like being repetetively redundant?
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Re: deterministically
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It's not like their rents are cheap either!
I also have to wonder... just how did this company find the woman's Tweet? Do they scour the social networking sites to see if anyone complains? If so, sounds like a guilty conscience on Horizon's part.
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Re: How did they find the Tweet?
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Retweeted
Way to take care of the problem, Horizon. Good work.
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"Because Bonnen's Twitter account is set to "public," everyone following on Twitter can view the defamatory statement, the suit said."
While only 20 people followed her, there is no limit to the number of people who may have seen it.
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"Who said sleeping in a moldy apartment was bad for you? Horizon realty thinks it's okay."
Do you know how much time it would take me to hunt down this tweet in twitter search with out knowing the person or knowing what Horizon was?
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So like saying it at a dinner party in a resturaunt? Where any number of people could hear it?
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So, not knowing who this person is, and what company she's talking about ... doing a blind Google search would actually make the company's competition in another market with a similar name look worse.
So, there's no limit to the number of people who may have mistakenly thought that Horizon Realty in Florida supports mold. And 20 people would have gotten it right.
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(2) Even if they aren't, real estate companies in Florida aren't really competing with those in Chicago.
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I guarantee it can't be much more than 6 billion, as an upper limit.
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Re: what is substantial publication in Twitter defamation cases
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Chicago Apts
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Re: Chicago Apts
we're all about being repetetively redundant today, aren't we?
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Re: Chicago Apts
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Born and raised, sir. I'm now just barely still technically in my beloved city. Let me know if you want to see where i'm going my stand up (just kidding).
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On the other hand, I DO tend to shout an awful lot about my beloved 2nd City, don't I?
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Yet another...
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Three steps to fix the problem
2.) Fix any problems with the woman's apartment
3.) Fire their spokesmoron
In my opinion, extensive mold in the apartments under their management has caused Horizon executives to suffer from highly impaired mental function.
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How do you defame a COMPANY?
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Sure about that?
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wow
Im headed off to sue yellowbook for not making me part of their super businesses or whatever. Id say thats pretty defaming.
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here's where it gets interesting...
At the moment, the world values Twitter far beyond it's actual worth. Twitter is so important that “it will change everything" and so profound that nothing can measure it.
Most digital marketers believe Twitter to be tremendously valuable although they cannot tell you, concretely, why. In fact most of the world believes Twitter's value (ie. power) to be INFINITE.
That in mind lawyers can leverage this to win and win big.
Twitter’s value perception is kept high by marketer’s disconnection with (denial of?) the way people actually use it. The true value of Twitter, for most of us willing to play along, is endlessly unknown… and it’s best kept that way so far as we’re concerned because that supports the perception of infinite value.
Example: With every additional person you follow on Twitter the average ‘attention value per followed person’ decreases.
Hence, the number of Twitter followers is not a score — it’s a statistic. It’s like ‘minutes used on your phone plan’ or ‘number of claimed dependents.’ Why would a marketer treat it as a score — a measure of social media success?
Perhaps because doing so is based on a decades-old system of valuing what we think is real… think is actually happening with customers. The world of “brand advertising.”
A good lawyer will understand all of this and leverage it. They'll actually convince a judge quite easily -- in this environment -- of defamation that doesn't exist. It's no different than a social media expert/agency convincing a major brand of advertising value that just plain doesn't exist (yet merits continual investment).
Candidly, I find the notion to be sickening but Twittermainia is in full swing.
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Update
There was a roof leak in her apartment. She moved out and also sued the apartment company (no further info on what she sued for). The company then somehow ran across her tweet when researching the lawsuit.
The roof leak thing makes it highly unlikely in my eyes that this is defamation in any form. I think she should have her lawyer take a look for SLAPP laws that are applicable to her case.
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Brother
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money talk bullshit walks as for the women she has to fight back what a shame
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can't defame Sun Healthcare nursing homes
Horizon and MOLD? Sun Healthcare Group Inc used broken equipment in a nursing home which led to the death of my mother and other's I'd witnessed, according to their Medical Director, Dr Scott Stoney, who declared so in 2006. Calif State Attorney General even had an existing injunction against them for killing patients while lacking a HVAC system in their Burlingame, Calif facility, yet when they violated this injunction and we notified the Dept of Justice they turned a blind eye. When it killed my mother, the deputy Attorney General Calude Vanderwold apologized to me. So did the CEO of Sun Healthcare through his regional employee Julie Campbell, who heads up their PAC now and told me she was a former girlfriend of his.
What's worse -mold or death?
This is not rocket science.
Deborah Calvert,
Newport Beach, Calif
former asst to Buzz Aldrin
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Finding tiny morons
He was the cutest little thing. He had a tiny briefcase full of soiled legal papers and a tiny hat covering his bald head.
It's true what they say about losing things, (like small morons); their always in the last place you look!
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Sued over Twitter message?
In 2006 their Medical Director, Dr Scott Stoney, declared this was a contributing factor in my mother's death. Dr Hunker wrote this letter while under a Injunction with Calif State Attorney General's Office, having killed patients in Burlingame, Calif in 2000 when their HVAC system broke.
This was willful misconduct by a board member and by the CEO. The CEO even sent an employee, Julie Campbell to apologize for SUN for damaging my mother when their b/p equip broke causing her to stroke.
Yet two yrs later I was cheated by them out of compensation for her death, even thought I had this written evidence of their blatant disregard for human life.
Sun Healthcare knew they owed me for my mother's death and cheated me out of an appropriate compensation. I refused to sign confidentiality agreement and therefore can make these statements.
Beware of their nursing homes, they are slumlords.
Deb Calvert
Newport Beach, Calif
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Mold or Death? What's worse?
and
Sunk Healthcare?
ha ha
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Sun Healthcare Nursing Homes
SUN can’t bar me for telling my story because I refused to sign a confidentialty agreement after mediaiton -after being told by my attorney that SUN’s CEO was on the phone from his Irvine office with attorneys in the other room and that he would cause me bodily harm and ruin my reputation if I forced this case to trial.
SUN cheated the taxpayers of the State of Calif out of millions of dollars in fines the State would have fined for my mother’s death and the four other deaths SUN was responsible for that I witnessed during my limited time there. And according to Claude Vanderwold deputy attrny generall this facility was NOT considered in the fine of $2.5 Million in Sept 2005 against Sun for violating the injunction to date. Amazing.
The Dept of Justice turned a blind eye. The Dept of Health didn’t fine the usual $100,000 for her or any other's death.
Yet SUN’s own medical director, Dr L Scott Stoney, wrote an opinion SUN responsible for her death and he quit due to SUN’s lack of response.
Yes, I can testify SUN Healthcare Group Inc, of New Mexico, produces profits at the cost of elder abuse and manslaughter.
Does this sound like political corruption? Corporate corruption?
This is not rocket science, Buzz would say.
Deborah Calvert daughter of the late Evelyn Calvert, Newport Beach, California and former assistant to Buzz Aldrin
debdeb2080@hotmail.com
230 Lille Lane #211
Newport Beach, CA 92663
949 548-2080
see Orange County Calif Superior Court Evelyn Calvert v Sun Healthcare Group Inc et al; Richard Matros v Deborah Calvert; and Calvert vs Daniel Leipold
(CEO requested a restraining order against me for writting SUN (and he as manager) was a slumlord, but Judge Gregory W Jones said NO, she's not dangerous to him or anyone, he's the dangerous one, he killed her mother. She did a whole lot less than I would have done, at least she didn't state that. They are slumlords and she has proven it, certainly she can state it. Freedom of speech, peaceful protest and protected speech. She should file a slapp back lawsuit for his malicious prosecution. And, you just introduced an email she states she doesn't even know what he looks like, how can I ask her to avoid someone she doesn't even know? My attorney said they certainly couldn't expect me to carry around a family pix of the CEO -the man who killed your mother, so you could avoid him!
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Shake up amongst the board of Sun Healtchare is imminent.
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landlords bs
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calvert spam
Please stop spamming this article with your nonsense. It's "not rocket science" to realise that this article is about TWITTER and nobody cares about your dead mom.
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