New Media: Old Complaint?
If you complain to your friends about your landlord, you might be called an unhappy tenant.
But if you complain to your friends about your landlord via Twitter, should you be called before a court of law?
In a case straight from the uncharted cyber-territory of social networking and personal responsibility, a Chicago renter is being sued by her former landlord for referring to her apartment as “moldy” in a message she sent to a friend. Because the renter transmitted the message using the micro-blogging service Twitter, her landlord accused her of “maliciously and wrongfully” defaming his company “throughout the world.”
The bitter Twitter battle was on, but the court of law was quickly eclipsed by the court of public opinion. “Foolhardy,” was the verdict from a Harvard media law expert, who said the landlord was “inviting a PR nightmare.”
The renter only had about 20 Twitter followers, so her tweet got no notice—until the landlord filed suit more than a month later. After a law blogger posted news of the court action, The Chicago Tribune picked up the blogger’s story, Twitter users spread it, Facebook, Digg, and StumbleUpon repeated it, TV and radio outlets followed, and by the end of one week, the tweet was heard ‘round the world in media reports in Russia, Australia, France, Italy, and Japan.
“You guaranteed that way more than 20 people will hear about your moldy apartments,” was typical of reader responses during the story’s mega-media trajectory.
The landlord—a property management company for 1,500 Chicago apartments—denied the mold allegation. Whether or not the landlord prevails in court, the case itself has raised numerous questions about personal responsibility and new media. “What is a tweet anyway?” asked the law blogger who originally broke the story. “Is it really considered publishing? Is it a conversation between friends in a public forum, like the electronic version of a coffeeshop, where you can gripe privately but have your gripes overheard? No one considers that defamation.”
Tell us what you think: Should new media be held to old media standards? If you post a negative comment online—like a product review—should you be sued? In the case of the renter and the landlord, did either of them get it right?
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(SHAME ON DISHONEST LANDLORDS), They Don't Live in
The owners are very wealthy major developers in New York collecting in rotation a magnitude of income drawn from these high rise complex units. This unlawful action taken against low-income tenants and many others living in those buildings are multi discriminating acts with prejudice under inhumane conditions against humanity. He is severely suffering from lung conditions caused by these toxins with those health and housing departments in NY not responding to get them out and relocated as requested by There specialist and other doctors.
It seems like their are corrupted lawyers working for both parties, failing systems and various NY housing and health departments neglecting those impaired like Ronald Stubbs.
Ronald has stated several people have died in his building complex due to several health hazards not being attended, and feel he is another dying victim awaiting to be removed on the expense of the complex owners and/or management company hired by owners.
RONALD STUBBS | 4 months, 1 week ago
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How should the law be applied
The question here is not about the supposedly moldy apartment, but about whether or not the landlord has a valid case against the renter. I am not a lawyer, nor do I pretend to know the law, but I have a feeling we will see more of this. In my opinion, this is a frivolous law suit, and the judge in charge should dismiss he case.
Marc DiLonardo | 4 months, 1 week ago
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A Mistake
It was a mistake for the Landlord to sue. I mean, tweeting to friends for the sake of just venting out one’s frustration is absolutely ok. These new technologies we have right now give us more ways than one to connect and reach out to one another. If the tweet or message is not defamatory, meaning there was NO deliberate intent of destroying someone’s reputation, then there is nothing wrong with it.
Joey Tayaban | 4 months ago
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whats the point
i’m agreeing with this person i mean why would you sue if they didn’t mean it in that way. I mean you just loosing money and alot of money its not just a little bit. But I think if they were meaning it to be wrong ok then you could sue but if not why waste the time in trying to get something out of nothing..
Ray Jay | 4 weeks ago
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meaningless
The person did not talk about the landlord himself rather the apartments. The landlord does not have a “true” cause to sue the person. If the apartments were moldy or not does not effect the landlord and the person was letting out his frustration so there was no real point in sueing the person.
Krystal Bokoch | 2 months, 2 weeks ago
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MR
MY COMPLAINT IS THAT I AM BEING ROBBED OF MY TENDER AND MILITIA PAY AND NO ONE WILL DO A DAMN THING ABOUT
ALTON LATROY BOWEN | 2 months ago
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project manager
iam a 44 yr old male with heart problems for 4 yrse ive had eight massive coronaries and a defrribulator pacemaker i would like to help other people in my same conditionthat there is hope im living proof there is hope i was verry upset it felt like everything was being taken away from me i just wanted to die but i finally snapped out of it with help of my familly and freinds and my fiance and god life should be happy for the rest of the time we have left i would like to share my experiences with others like my self and see if i can give them some hope and help im free most of the time and would like to help these patience and cheer them up if i can sincerley matthew david evans
matthew david evans | 2 months ago
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mrs
we are still in our own house and are being abused by my son and his wife they have been laying up in our house for a year living off unemployment and food stamps they have not been looking for a job they have no drivers licences the car they have licenced is in the 16 year olds name. its uninsured now that we want them out of our home all hell as broken loose the free ride is over and they are causing us so much grief we have taken to living in our bedroom for the past few months our house is a filthy pig sty (they cleaned a little today because we call the police) about the drug use and the tattoo shop they set up just so you know the type of people who are my
SONS good friend is a guy who robbed
meijers a couple months ago and was caught also a guy who set a church on fire and stole a ladies purse, then theres the pot dealers who come up in here and the guy with the play station 3 under his arm looking to trade a tattoo for this most likely
hot play station
, ps we were for the most part told by township police tuff luck , we had to BEG
them to come , even with a bench warrent out of barry county michigan for child support we got nothing so much for the bench warrent. that was a joke I guess..
and the drug use and everything we told them when they showed up at our door
they were chummy with my son and his wife and looked at me like I was crazy( oh they were so NICE with officer who came ………let me tell you they
had someone take the drugs out of the house before they got here……. the officer checked upstairs and said oh it smells like marlboro cigarettes to ARE YOU KIDDING ME I ALMOST FAINTED my 9 year old granddaughter told them where they hid the drugs in the snake cage I don’t even think they checked for the drugs. was more concered because I made them come to the house ….they were busy don’t ya know with real crimes…. I am living proof of a crime I live this everyday hello is anyone listening … pig sty dirty dishes everyday.. I have to go to the laundry mat to do my clothes cause I can’t get to the washer or dryer because of so much mess…
we have to live eat and sleep in our bedroom because of the kitchen is so filthy.. this is our house and we are the prisoners here they have us; trapped like rats
rosemary sorrentino | 1 month, 4 weeks ago
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Mr.
If the apartment was “moldy”, where’s the case? After all, aren’t defamation and liable cases about untruthful allegations?
Yank DeChain | 1 month ago
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LMSW
I AM OFFENNED BY MY VISIT TO YOUR LOCAL FOOD STAMP OFFICE LOCATED ON BERGEN IN BROOKLYN NY . I EXPLAIN TO MR OBADINA THAT THE INFORMATION IS COMPUTER WAS INCORRECT. WHEN I TOLD HIM I HAVE TO GO TO THE OFFICE OF SENATE MONTGOMERY TO CLEAR THE MADE UP HE TOLD ME HE DIDN,T CARE. HE ACTED AS I WAS NAME DROPPING. I HAVE WORK ALL MY LIFE AND WAS IN A SERIOUS ACCIDENT THAT HAS MADE ME DISABLE NYCHA HAS COMBINE MY INCOME WITH THE INCOME OF MY NEPHEW ANTHONY CARDONA WHO IS AUSTIC AND HAS BE IN A FACILITY SEEN THA 1989. I HAD ALL THE PAPER WITH ME AND HE REFUSED TO LOOK AT THEM. I HAVE GONE THOUGH THE ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICE OF NYCHA TO BE MET WITH THE SAME ATTITUDE. I HAVE BEEN DEALING WITH THIS MATTER SINCE 11/2007. I WOULD GLAD FAX ALL INFORMATION I HAVE GIVEN TO THE SENATE
MARIACHRISTINA ALICEA | 1 month ago
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