Courtney Love Settles Twitter Defamation Lawsuit; Pays Up

from the did-they-negotiate-in-140-characters dept

Fri, Mar 4th 2011 6:41am — Mike Masnick

Two years ago, we wrote about the first big Twitter defamation lawsuit, involving Courtney Love complaining, rather emphatically, about a fashion designer, Dawn Simorangkir, with whom she'd had a falling out. Of course, we noted that the legal filing against Love seemed to make statements that appeared equally libelous towards Love as the statements she had made towards Simorangkir. We also pointed out that there seemed like better ways to deal with the case other than a lawsuit. The lawsuit really only served to call much more attention to the statements about Simorangkir.

Still, it seemed like Love's defense didn't have much substance, so it's really not a huge surprise that Love has agreed to settle and is paying out a stunning $430,000.

Yeah, that's an expensive tweet.

Love's lawyer tried to brush this off as a "modest" settlement, but I don't think most people think $430,000 for an outburst in 140 character chunks is "modest." I'm not sure what went into the decision to settle, but what worries me about this ruling is that it will encourage people to file more defamation lawsuits in hopes of getting similar settlements out of it.

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Filed Under: courtney love, defamation
Companies: twitter

12 Comments

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EG, 4 Mar 2011 @ 6:53am

I wouldn't mind...
A payout of over 30K a letter. Someone famous and well off, defame me!
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- Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 7:46am
  
  Re: I wouldn't mind...
  The payout per goes way down when divided by the number of times Ms. Love has gotten naked with little to no provocation. If she uses that formula, she'll probably sleep a little better (and presumably, naked).
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  - Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2011 @ 1:52pm
    
    Re: Re: I wouldn't mind...
    My kinda girl!!!!
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 8:08am
  
  Re: I wouldn't mind...
  Call Charlie Sheen!
  Catching! Winner!
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Spaceman Spiff (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 6:57am

Big vs. Little
Well, perhaps $430k isn't out of order for when a big start defames a small business owner (which I assume Simorangkir is), since their actions have much deeper and broader effect than some "little person" slandering/defaming a big star. Since I don't know much about this case, that's just a comment on the relative impact of what one person says vs. another when one is widely known, quoted, followed, and the other is just another head in the crowd.
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Shaun, 4 Mar 2011 @ 7:13am

A fool and their money are easily parted.
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- Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 7:48am
  
  Re:
  Someone uncouth could easily switch out "money" with "legs" in this particular case, but I'm above that sort of childish behavior.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 8:03am

You'd think a settlement for such a large sum would have confidentiality agreement keeping the amount a secret.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 11:21am
  
  Re:
  You'd think a settlement for such a large sum would have confidentiality agreement keeping the amount a secret
  
  Agreed. I was surprised that it was made public. Love seems to have totally folded in this case.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 9:46am

The problem is that the statement Love made is arguably libelous and untrue. With the media coverage that Love gets when having outbursts like these, its likely to spread to many more eyes and ears than others. While the statements in the suit against Love are, with common knowledge of her history, likely to be entirely true.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:15pm

I wonder if I could get Courtney Love to start hating me? I could use a few extra hundred thousand...
I can see it now... I'll have business cards printed. "Occupation: Hated by Courtney Love. Salary: Six figures."
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Anonymous Coward, 5 Mar 2011 @ 7:00pm

So much for a singer/musician standing up for first amendment rights...
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