Who knew that a 140 character tweet could lead to a $50,000 defamation lawsuit for a Chicago woman? Amanda Bonnen wrote the tweet in reference to a battle with her landlord over alleged mold in her apartment. (I’ve learned you can never use alleged enough.)
Horizon Group Management filed a lawsuit against her, claiming that her statement damaged the company’s business reputation.
According to the complaint, Bonnen “maliciously and wrongfully published the false and defamatory Tweet on Twitter, thereby allowing the Tweet to be distributed throughout the world.”
Seriously?! Does the company really think it has a chance, considering Bonnen only has 20 followers on Twitter. It’s not as if she distributed the message to thousands of people. And, even if that were the case, the company would have a difficult time proving defamation.
If anything, Horizon officials are harming the company by filing a lawsuit, thrusting the company into the media spotlight around the world.
