Matthew Heller at OnPoint News has been digging further into that Chicago landlord-tenant fight that culminated in a cause celebre lawsuit over a posting on Twitter (earlier). More: Marc Randazza.
Matthew Heller at OnPoint News has been digging further into that Chicago landlord-tenant fight that culminated in a cause celebre lawsuit over a posting on Twitter (earlier). More: Marc Randazza.
4 Comments
In still can’t believe that whatever legal eagle is representing the management company thought that blowing a derogatory tweet seen by maybe 20 people into a national brouhaha seen by millions was a good idea…
Agreed with mojo. A SLAPP is a SLAPP, by any other name.
An insurance-retained defense attorney, who isn’t looking to maximize fees on one case, might have advised Horizon that defending from the high ground is the ideal vantage and position.
To belabor the metaphor, in this case Horizon is counterattacking from low swampy ground. Who cares what a litigious jerk the plaintiff may be? You’re suing her for libel over something written on a 20 follower Twitter page.
So there’s more to the story than we knew initially. Nonetheless, Horizon is playing this badly; it seems to me that the proper counterattack would have been to countersue the tenant for filing a frivolous action. And that “sue first, ask questions later” quote was beyond dumb; you never say that within earshot of a media person, even in jest.
I wonder if this isn’t perhaps all part of a bigger scheme. Maybe Horizon’s master plan is to sue all the bloggers who are criticizing them for suing the tweeter.
Streisand approves.